KIF18A

The Series C financing will support the advancement of innovative oncology drug candidates through early clinical trials. Credit: Aunt Spray/Shutterstock.com. Accent Therapeutics has announced the successful completion of a $75m Series C financing round to progress the development of small molecule precision cancer therapies. The round was spearheaded by Mirae Asset Capital Life Science and saw contributions from new investors including Mirae Asset Capital, Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Bristol Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson Innovation. Current investors AbbVie Ventures, Atlas Venture, the Column Group, Droia Ventures, EcoR1 Capital, GV, the Mark Foundation for Cancer Research and Timefolio Capital were among others participating. The funds will be used for early clinical development of Accent’s leading drug candidates. These include a DExH-Box Helicase 9 (DHX9) inhibitor and a kinesin family member 18A (KIF18A) inhibitor, with a focus on safety, pharmacokinetics and early efficacy studies. Mirae Asset Capital Life Science managing director Naveen Krishnan will become part of Accent’s board of directors. Accent’s lead candidate, a DHX9 inhibitor, is aimed at treating cancers with significant unmet medical needs, such as those associated with breast cancer gene (BRCA) loss of function (breast and ovarian cancers) and mismatch repair deficiency (colorectal, endometrial and gastric cancers). The company’s second lead programme, a KIF18A inhibitor, has the potential to address a wide range of cancer indications with high unmet needs, including triple-negative breast cancer and ovarian cancer. Accent Therapeutics CEO Shakti Narayan stated: “We are delighted to announce the backing of an exceptional investor syndicate [that shares] our commitment to advancing innovative therapies for patients with cancer. “These additional resources position us well to file INDs [investigational new drug applications] this year for both our DHX9 and KIF18A programmes, and to rapidly progress them through early clinical development.”

Accent's $75 million series C included the first public investment from Mirae Asset Capital Life Science. Accent Therapeutics has reeled in investments from two more pharmaceutical companies as part of a $75M series C, the latest validation for the RNA drug developer. Bristol Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson’s investment arm, JJDC, participated in the funding round that was announced Tuesday, which was led by the recently launched Mirae Asset Capital Life Science. The two pharmas join AbbVie’s venture arm which had previously participated in the biotech's series B.  Accent CEO Shakti Narayan, Ph.D., said the money will help drive further development of the company’s two lead small molecules, targeting DHX9 and KIF18A, respectively. Accent’s plan is to formally ask regulators to enter human trials for both programs before the end of the year and put each in phase 1 studies by early 2025.  The three pharma backers come in addition to Accent’s existing research and licensing collaboration with AstraZeneca, announced in 2020. That gave the British pharma the option to a preclinical program that Accent would develop through phase 1 studies, plus worldwide licensing rights to two additional preclinical assets should AstraZeneca want more. Narayan wouldn’t specify which programs in the pipeline, if any, were assigned to AstraZeneca, saying only that the two lead programs were wholly owned.  All told, Narayan says the attention shows that Big Pharma “is excited about our story [and] is excited about the programs we're driving forward.”  “Together with our collaboration with AstraZeneca, there's just a great sense of endorsement and engagement from Big Pharma around our strategy and our vision,” he said.  The DHX9 asset has the potential to be first-in-class, but the KIF18A program is lagging slightly behind Volastra Therapeutics, which has two such assets in the clinic, one of which the biotech snagged from Amgen. Naveen Krishnan, M.D., managing director of Mirae Asset Capital’s new life science fund and incoming Accent board member, said Accent could gain from Volastra’s learnings.  “Accent had a unique approach for how they're pursuing their KIF18 asset that to me, really focuses on widening that therapeutic index,” Krishnan said. “And I think there's certainly room for more than one player, particularly in KIF18A.”  Accent marks the first public investment for Kirshnan and Mirae’s new life science arm, which was unveiled last week with $50 million to spend. Krishnan, who took the reins after more than two years at Leaps by Bayer, expects the fund to make up to eight investments this year. He and the firm are already finalizing plans to participate in another unnamed biotech’s financing.

Financing led by Mirae Asset Capital Life Science with participation from additional new and existing investors Funds will support advancement of lead programs through early clinical development, including Accent's first-in-class DHX9 inhibitor and newly unveiled, potentially best-in-class KIF18A inhibitor LEXINGTON, Mass., Jan. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Accent Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company pioneering a new class of small molecule precision cancer therapies, today announced the completion of a $75 million Series C financing. The financing was led by Mirae Asset Capital Life Science, with participation from other new investors, Mirae Asset Capital, Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Bristol Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc., as well as all existing investors, including The Column Group, Atlas Venture, Droia Ventures, GV, EcoR1 Capital, AbbVie Ventures, The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research, Timefolio Capital (formerly known as NS Investment) and others. In conjunction with the financing, Naveen Krishnan, MD, MPhil, Managing Director of Mirae Asset Capital Life Science will join the Company's Board of Directors. Proceeds from the financing will be used to support the advancement of both lead programs –Accent's first-in-class DHX9 inhibitor and a potentially best-in-class KIF18A inhibitor – through early clinical development including safety, pharmacokinetics and early efficacy studies. "We are delighted to announce the backing of an exceptional investor syndicate who share our commitment to advancing innovative therapies for patients with cancer," said Shakti Narayan, PhD, JD, CEO of Accent Therapeutics. "These additional resources position us well to file INDs this year for both our DXH9 and KIF18A programs, and to rapidly progress them through early clinical development." Accent is developing therapeutics for both novel and known, but suboptimally-addressed, high-impact oncology targets with the potential to benefit large patient populations. The company's DHX9 inhibitor seeks to address indications with high unmet need, including BRCA loss of function cancers (breast, ovarian), mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) or microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) cancers (colorectal, endometrial, gastric) and additional undisclosed cancer types. Accent's second lead program, a KIF18A inhibitor, could also potentially benefit a large patient population across several cancer indications with high unmet need, including ovarian cancer and triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). "Accent's focus on targeting cancer cell vulnerabilities in a specific and robust way really stood out as we were evaluating companies for our first investment, " remarked Naveen Krishnan, MD, MPhil, of Mirae Asset Capital Life Science. "They have assembled an incredible team with a successful track record of drug development, and we are excited to partner with the other seasoned investors to support Accent at this pivotal time." About DHX9 Accent's lead program is a first-in-class DHX9 inhibitor with the potential to address high unmet need indications not adequately served by existing therapies, including tumors with BRCA loss of function (breast, ovarian), mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) or microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) cancers (colorectal, endometrial, gastric) and additional undisclosed cancer types representing large patient populations. DHX9 is a DNA/RNA helicase that has been reported to play important roles in replication, transcription, translation, RNA splicing, RNA processing, and maintenance of genomic stability. Hence, this enzyme represents a compelling novel oncology target as inhibition of DHX9 exploits key tumor vulnerabilities, resulting in cancer-specific death. Accent is currently conducting IND-enabling studies evaluating its DHX9 inhibitor. About KIF18A Accent's second lead program is a potential best-in-class inhibitor for KIF18A which may address a large patient population across several cancer indications, including ovarian and triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). KIF18A is a mitotic kinesin motor protein critical for cell division in select tumors with chromosomal instability. A subset of tumor cells with an abnormal number of chromosomes (aneuploid) are sensitive to KIF18A and show rapid cell killing in vitro and in vivo upon KIF18A inhibitor treatment, while cells with normal numbers of chromosomes (euploid) are unaffected. Accent is planning to initiate IND-enabling studies for KIF18A in the first half of 2024. About Accent Therapeutics Accent Therapeutics is pioneering a new class of small molecule precision cancer therapies targeting critical intracellular dependencies that span multiple types of cancer. Building upon industry-leading expertise in RNA-modifying proteins (RMPs) and the systematic mapping of both the RMP space and adjacent high-value areas for drug discovery, the company is building a flexible model that allows for a diversity of approaches to developing potentially transformative biomarker-driven cancer medicines. Accent's therapies are designed for both novel and known, but suboptimally-addressed, high-impact oncology targets with the potential to benefit large patient populations with significant unmet need. For more information on Accent's mission to translate extraordinary science into life-changing therapeutics for patients living with cancer, visit or follow us on LinkedIn. About Mirae Asset Capital Life Science Mirae Asset Capital Life Science is the first and only U.S. affiliate of Mirae Asset Financial Group dedicated to life science investment. We invest in companies prioritizing the delivery of safe and effective treatments for patients who need them most and believe that superior returns will follow. Our strategy is rooted in core principles that include delivering near-term value, calculated risk, finding innovative yet validated modalities, and rigorous evaluation using our unique backgrounds across biomedical research, drug discovery, company building, clinical/medical training, and venture capital investing. For more information, please visit us at , or follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter. SOURCE Accent Therapeutics, Inc.