CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — InduPro Inc. has raised $77 million in a Series B financing and dosed the first patient in a Phase 1 clinical trial of IDP-001, its lead oncology program targeting solid tumors.
The financing was led by The Column Group, with participation from existing investors Vida Ventures, MRL Ventures Fund, Emerson Collective, advised by Yosemite, and Euclidean Capital. New investors included Solasta Ventures, Sanofi and Eli Lilly and Company.
InduPro said the proceeds will support Phase 1 development of IDP-001, generation of early proof-of-concept data and advancement of its broader preclinical pipeline.
“We are delighted to have the support of this outstanding group of life sciences investors and strategic partners who recognize the potential of our proximity-guided platform to create precision therapeutics in oncology and autoimmune disease,” said Prakash Raman, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of InduPro. “With IDP-001 now in the clinic, our focus is on disciplined clinical execution. I am pleased with how effectively our team has advanced the program and encouraged by the strong early interest from principal investigators and clinical sites as we expand the study.”
The open-label, first-in-human study is evaluating the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and preliminary antitumor activity of IDP-001 as a monotherapy in adults with advanced or metastatic squamous or non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer and other squamous solid tumors that have progressed following standard-of-care treatment.
IDP-001 is a potential first-in-class bispecific antibody-drug conjugate targeting EGFR and TAPA-E1, a novel Tumor-Associated Proximity Antigen identified through InduPro’s platform.
The company said its proximity-guided platform maps the spatial organization of proteins on the surface of cells, allowing researchers to identify potential bispecific target combinations based on disease biology and the physical proximity of proteins.
“Treatment options for squamous cancers have not kept pace with advances in other solid tumors,” said Amanda J. Redig, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Medical Officer of InduPro. “IDP-001 was designed to help address this gap by harnessing the power of biological proximity. The targets for our bispecific ADC were selected based not only on their shared biology across squamous tumors, but also on their proximity on the surface of cancer cells, a spatial relationship not found in normal tissue.”
InduPro said dual targeting of EGFR and TAPA-E1 is intended to improve tumor selectivity, internalization and antitumor activity while reducing the toxicity that has limited some EGFR-directed therapies.
“InduPro’s induced-proximity platform has opened a window into cell-surface biology by mapping protein neighborhoods overlooked by conventional target-discovery approaches,” said Sarah Hymowitz, Ph.D., Partner at The Column Group and InduPro Board Chair. “The team is using those insights as a powerful engine for discovering selective co-target pairs and building a compelling pipeline.”
