T cell engagers are having a moment, much like antibody-drug conjugates have for the past two years.
The cell-depleting medicines, known simply as TCEs, are being adopted from the oncology field as a new class of
autoimmune drugs
, mimicking the way many cell therapy drug developers are moving into immune-mediated diseases.
And now there’s another biotech in the mix. Ouro Medicines broke cover on Friday morning with $120 million in funding. It marks the sixth nine-figure funding round of the week for the biopharma industry, continuing the
megaround-heavy environment
of 2024.
Pitching into the launch is GSK, a large pharma that’s bagged
multiple TCE deals
in recent memory, including a $300 million upfront deal for an
antibody from Chimagen Biosciences
.
Ouro’s TCE OM336 derives from Chengdu, China-based Keymed Biosciences. Ouro paid $16 million upfront and could dish out up to $610 million in biobucks,
Endpoints News
reported
in November.
The startup joins a growing chorus of biopharmas that have in-licensed or acquired TCEs from China-based companies. The most prolific dealmaker, though, has been Ken Song’s
Candid Therapeutics
, which has inked multiple deals with Chinese drug developers since
unveiling $370 million
in September.
Monograph Capital founded Ouro “in partnership with GSK,” the San Francisco startup said. It’s led by CEO Jaideep Dudani, who is also a portfolio principal at Ouro. He said GSK is “helping shape the strategy” and guiding the buildout of Ouro.
“In 2024, Monograph Capital and GSK got together and said, ‘Hey, this is a space that we really think is going to be really important, and started building the bones of the company,” Dudani said. He was previously part of the founding team of Human Immunology Biosciences, which
Biogen bought for $1.15 billion
last year.
Co-leading Ouro’s Series A are investors
TPG Life Sciences Innovations,
NEA and Norwest Venture Partners. Additional investors include Boyu/Zoo Capital, LongRiver Investments, UPMC Enterprises and other undisclosed shops.
The 10-employee biotech plans to double in size this year, the CEO said. Its chief medical officer is Neely Mozaffarian, who held the same posts at GentiBio and Atomwise. Kevin Baker is chief development officer, having held the same role at Pionyr Immunotherapeutics, and former HI-Bio general counsel Christina Carlson is its chief administrative officer.
Keymed is testing OM336/CM336, a BCMA-directed bispecific TCE, in patients with multiple myeloma in a Phase 2 study in China.
Ouro was originally formed around discovery-stage programs and the company then “decided to accelerate” that mission by in-licensing the candidate from Keymed. It’s still advancing an internal preclinical pipeline as well, but declined to disclose further details.
Ouro holds the ex-China rights to OM336 and plans to start a Phase 1 this year for B cell-mediated diseases, which the company said could include systemic lupus erythematosus, scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis, Sjögren’s syndrome and myositis.
The goal is to rid the need for immunosuppressive treatments, which are typically needed for current drugs in B cell-mediated diseases.
The biotech’s name derives from Ouroboros, an ancient symbol of a serpent eating itself.
“It’s supposed to represent an eternal recycle, rebirth, renewal. That’s the vision of the company,” Dudani said. “It’s achieving this immune reset for patients and giving them this opportunity to not be a patient anymore, if that’s possible, no longer needing to take their daily dose of steroids.”