Alterome Therapeutics, Inc.

AKTive-001 is a Phase 1/1b study of ALTA2618 in adults with AKT1 E17K-mutant solid tumors ALTA2618 is the first clinical mutant-selective inhibitor of AKT SAN DIEGO, CA, USA I October 30, 2024 I Alterome Therapeutics, Inc. , a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering the development of next generation, small molecule targeted therapies for the treatment of cancer, today announced the dosing of the first patient in AKTive-001, a Phase 1/1b trial of ALTA2618 in adults with AKT1 E17K-mutant advanced solid tumors. ALTA2618 is the first mutant-selective allosteric inhibitor of AKT1 E17K and is designed to avoid on-target toxicities associated with inhibition of AKT family kinases. AKT1 E17K is a clinically validated oncogene that drives ~5% of breast cancer, particularly hormone positive disease, and 1-2% of all cancer, including endometrial (~3%) and prostate (~2%) cancers. “Dosing the first patient in the AKTive-001 trial marks a significant milestone for Alterome as we advance the first program from our mutation-selective and isoform-selective discovery pipeline to the clinic,” said Eric Murphy, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of Alterome Therapeutics. “ALTA2618 was designed to selectively target the AKT1 E17K mutation by pioneering a novel covalent approach to capture the lysine mutation. From concept to clinic, ALTA2618 illustrates the relentless execution of our team and dedication to developing novel mutation-selective therapies that will improve outcomes for patients with cancer.” AKTive-001 is a Phase 1/1b, open-label, dose escalation and multiple expansion cohort study evaluating ALTA2618 as an oral monotherapy. The study will evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and preliminary clinical activity of ALTA2618 in patients aged 18 years or above with AKT1 E17K-mutated advanced unresectable or metastatic solid tumors (NCT06533059). Additional clinical sites across Europe, Asia and Australia will initiate enrollment over the next year. About Alterome Therapeutics, Inc. Alterome Therapeutics, Inc. is a precision oncology biotech developing alteration-specific therapeutics to address high-value and validated oncogenic drivers. The company is led by an expert team of precision oncology R&D leaders with a history of developing marketed oncology small molecule drugs. For more information, visit www.alterome.com . Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter . SOURCE: Alterome Therapeutic

Canaan Partners' fresh $100 million follows an $850 million fund announced last year. What’s another $100 million tacked onto a previously raised $850 million? Evidently, for venture firm Canaan Partners, tons.  The private financing outfit has added a fresh nine-digit sum a year after closing its thirteenth fund. General Partner Julie Grant told Fierce Biotech that the money will act as a designated pool for biotech investments.  “The additional capital that's been raised will be invested alongside the main fund,” she said. “It will allow us to do more deals in biopharma with the exact same strategy of going for early company formation, syndicated series A and syndicated series Bs and Cs.”  The cash extends the total amount raised since early 2023 past $1 billion, with nearly half of the capital designated for the firm’s healthcare team. Think of the extra $100 million as a cherry on top for the biopharma investors. The other half of the roughly $1 billion will be for Canaan’s technology investors, with previous bets being placed on startups like Instacart and Turo, among others. Grant says the company plans to invest in 15 to 16 companies over the next three years using the money raised over the last year-plus.  The firm has jumped aboard at least two biotech raises so far this year, including Nocion Therapeutics’ $62 million raise, money that's expected to be used to advance an inhaled chronic cough med. Canaan also contributed to Alterome Therapeutics’ $132 million series B led by Goldman Sachs. Alterome is working on developing small-molecule, precision cancer treatments.  It’s not just capital that Canaan is adding. Joining the team as a venture partner is Uwe Schoenbeck, Ph.D., who is coming across from Pfizer. Schoenbeck previously served as senior vice president and chief scientific officer of the Big Pharma’s emerging science and innovation unit under the larger R&D umbrella. That team worked to bridge early science and young biotechs with Pfizer’s R&D ecosystem, an effort that included Pfizer’s Center for Therapeutic Innovation. That initiative, in particular, helped introduce many new medicines to Pfizer’s pipeline, including an anti-TLA1 asset that was sold to Roivant, which flipped it to Roche for $7.1 billion. But a Pfizer spokesperson confirmed to Fierce Biotech yesterday that the unit's labs have been closed as part of a multi-billion-dollar cost-cutting plan.  Schoenbeck's role at Pfizer meant he has been familiar with Canaan's work for around 10 years, he told Fierce in an interview. “As part of my Pfizer role, we had been heavily engaged in Pfizer venture investments,” Schoenbeck said. “So we did have a number of engagements with quite a few VC companies over the years, that included Canaan.” One area that Canaan has not yet dipped its toe into is the metabolic disease area. The ascending GLP-1 class has spurred a frenetic race among investors to place bets on biotechs developing obesity medications that could carve out billions in revenue down the line. Schoenbeck expects Canaan will make “targeted” investments in the broader cardiometabolic space in the future.  “You have to make sure … you're properly positioned to really have a cutting edge versus the other, you know, hundreds of programs that have surfaced over the last year or two," he said. 

Pictured: Photo illustration of hundred dollar bill and graph/iStock, Darren415 Healthcare and technology-focused venture capital firm Canaan is adding $100 million in new capital to its biopharma investment funds, the company announced Wednesday. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based firm’s injection of new funds will bring the company’s total amount raised since early 2023 to over $1 billion. In April 2023, Canaan announced it had secured $850 million and had started a new fund called Canaan XIII, with the healthcare portion aiming to help create biopharmaceutical and therapeutic companies. The fund is also looking to invest in companies tackling unmet clinical and medical needs, including potential investments in the oncology, immunology, neurology, cardiology and respiratory sectors. Canaan has also added to its investment team by bringing on board Uwe Schoenbeck, formerly the senior vice president and chief science officer of emerging science and innovation at Pfizer’s worldwide research, development, and medical division. Schoenbeck’s responsibilities at Pfizer included working on external breakthrough science and assets and being responsible for a cross-therapeutic portfolio through Pfizer’s academic partnering model, the Centers for Therapeutic Innovation (CTI). According to Canaan, Schoenbeck’s leadership at Pfizer advanced several CTI projects into Phase II and Phase III and saw him forming several early external companies through seed and equity investments. Before working at Pfizer, Schoenbeck was vice president of emerging R&D at Wyeth and vice president of cardiovascular research at Boehringer Ingelheim. “It is not often that we have the opportunity to add someone of Uwe’s caliber and track record to the Canaan investment team. He is a particularly good fit for Canaan as he shares our vision for how to identify breakthrough science, team with entrepreneurs, create and support biopharma companies, and, ultimately, advance patient care,” Tim Shannon, general partner at Canaan, said in a statement. Schoenbeck has already hit the ground running with Canaan as he led the firm’s participation in the $132 million Series B for Alterome Therapeutics earlier this month and became a member of the biotech’s board of directors. “Our healthcare and technology teams have been diligently making progress executing investments in partnership with entrepreneurs to create and support transformational companies. The addition of Uwe and the new funds we raised will enable us to continue advancing today’s most innovative science to produce important new medicines capable of addressing significant unmet needs of patients around the world,” John Pacifico, general partner, COO and CFO of Canaan, said in a statement. Last month, Canaan also contributed to the $62 million Series B of Nocion Therapeutics to help advance its candidate to treat chronic cough. Tyler Patchen is a staff writer at BioSpace. You can reach him at tyler.patchen@biospace.com. Follow him on LinkedIn.