Kanvas Biosciences Raises $48M Series A to Advance Microbiome-Based Cancer Immunotherapy
核心洞察
Kanvas Biosciences (搜索) secured $48 million in Series A funding co-led by DCVC (搜索) and Lions Capital LLC (搜索), with participation from Gates Foundation (搜索) and other investors, bringing total funding to $78 million.
The company's lead drug candidate KAN-001 is designed to improve immunotherapy response rates in solid organ cancer patients who don't respond to immune checkpoint inhibitors (搜索).
While over 50% of solid organ cancer patients receive immune checkpoint inhibitors (搜索), only 10% achieve complete responses, representing a significant unmet medical need.
Kanvas Biosciences (搜索) announced it has raised $48 million in Series A funding to advance clinical trials of its lead microbiome (搜索)-based cancer immunotherapy and expand its live biotherapeutic product (LBP) development platform. The round was co-led by existing investors DCVC (搜索) and Lions Capital LLC (搜索), with participation from Gates Foundation (搜索), ATHOS KG, Germin8, Ki Tua Fund, Pangaea Ventures and additional investors.
The fresh capital follows a July 2024 seed round and brings Kanvas' total funding to $78 million. The Princeton, New Jersey-based company will use the funding to conduct clinical trials for KAN-001, its lead immuno-oncology drug candidate, and advance commercial partnerships leveraging its spatial imaging and manufacturing platform.
Addressing Immunotherapy Non-Response
KAN-001 is designed for cancer patients who don't respond to immune checkpoint inhibitors (搜索) (ICIs). While over 50% of solid organ cancer patients receive ICIs, only 10% achieve complete responses, highlighting a significant treatment gap. Fecal microbiota transplants (FMT) from ICI responders can convert non-responders into responders, but they pose manufacturing challenges, pathogen risks and scalability issues.
KAN-001 addresses these limitations and has demonstrated safety and efficacy across multiple mouse models and tumor types. The clinical pathway has been substantially de-risked through a recent FMT trial for anti-PD-1 refractory microsatellite instability high cancers (搜索). In this study, fecal material from the same donor from which the specific KAN-001 strains were isolated was delivered to study participants via FMT. Results showed high engraftment rates, restored anti-PD-1 response and no ICI-induced colitis.
"I began my career as a physician and always dreamed of being able to develop new drugs that could help the patients I hadn't been able to treat with existing therapies," said Matthew Cheng, co-founder and CEO of Kanvas Biosciences (搜索). "Most physicians never get the opportunity to realize this dream, so it's an incredible privilege to bring Kanvas' technology to the broader LBP market and begin conducting clinical trials of our lead drug candidate, which offers a new way to improve the therapeutic efficacy and safety of immunotherapy for cancer patients."
Proprietary Spatial Biology Platform
Kanvas has developed the unique ability to spatially map microbial cells and host cells, enabling the company to manufacture LBPs made of complex consortia containing hundreds of members that can restore microbiome (搜索) health. The platform can clearly visualize LBP engraftment and activity, addressing two longstanding roadblocks in developing effective microbiome therapeutics.
The company has also developed the Kanvas Spectral Lightsheet, a high-resolution, multispectral lightsheet microscope that generates spatial biology data to train Kanvas' AI platform and build what the company describes as the world's first microbiome (搜索) atlas. Recent research demonstrates how the company's spatial imaging platform outperforms gold standard methods such as metagenomics sequencing, especially in low biomass settings.
Expanding Pipeline and Partnerships
Beyond cancer immunotherapy, Kanvas is developing additional therapeutic applications. The company is preparing for patient recruitment for a Phase 1 clinical trial of KAN-004 (搜索), an immuno-oncology drug candidate that targets ICI-induced colitis and may allow cancer patients to stay on ICI therapy longer with improved response rates.
With new funding from Gates Foundation (搜索), Kanvas is also developing what it describes as the world's first fully synthetic microbiome (搜索) replacement product designed to treat and prevent maternal environmental enteric dysfunction (搜索), a major contributor to maternal undernutrition, low infant birthweight and heightened neonatal health risk.
"Creating a brand new microscope capable of collecting spatial biology data at unprecedented scale and quality is a testament to Kanvas' deep engineering prowess and relentless commitment to unlocking the gut microbiome (搜索) as a distinct organ that can be safely modified using microbial-based drugs," said Jason Pontin, General Partner at DCVC (搜索) and chair of Kanvas' board. "Kanvas' ability to generate novel data about host-microbiome interactions is fueling powerful AI models that are helping the company design new cancer treatments, nutritional supplements and even gastrointestinal restoration products for animals."
The company has also strengthened its leadership team with the addition of Stephen Quake, the Lee Otterson Professor of Bioengineering and Professor of Applied Physics at Stanford University and former Chief Science Advisor for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, to its board of directors.