Presage Biosciences develops the CIVO® intratumoral microdosing platform to evaluate multiple drugs and drug combinations directly in a single patient tumor. The platform is designed to enable simultaneous assessment of responses to several investigational agents or combinations while still in the patient’s body. Presage partners with oncology-focused pharmaceutical companies to provide preclinical and early clinical (Phase 0) data for drug and combination discovery. The company recently expanded collaborations to include Merck (MSD) and Maverick Therapeutics and already works with Takeda and other large pharmaceutical organizations, bringing the total number of partners using its approach to five. Presage plans to use new funding to expand its clinical site network in the U.S. and Australia and to develop next-generation CIVO microdose injection devices to access a wider spectrum of cancers. The company is led by CEO Rich Klinghoffer, PhD, and has raised a total of $35M in equity to date. Presage Biosciences develops the CIVO platform, a clinical intratumoral microdosing technology that lets drug developers test potential cancer drugs directly in human tumors. CIVO injects tiny microdoses tagged with fluorescent microspheres into tumors, enabling tracking of multiple candidate agents within a single patient. Tumors are removed after 24 to 96 hours and examined to assess drug effects, accelerating proof-of-concept testing without a full Phase I trial. The company plans to broaden use of the CIVO platform in clinical intratumoral microdosing studies with a range of biopharma partners. Presage recently raised $6M in financing that brings its total equity raised to $26M. Leadership changes include the appointment of former CSO Rich Klinghoffer as CEO, with founder and first employee Nathan Caffo stepping down to a strategic advisor role. Presage Biosciences is a Seattle, WA-based oncology company led by President Nathan Caffo that advances a drug development approach incorporating human efficacy data earlier in development and clinical trials. Its core product is the patented CIVO™ arrayed microinjection platform, which allows simultaneous assessment of multiple drugs or drug combinations directly in a single solid tumor in situ to evaluate efficacy, resistance and synergies in the native tumor microenvironment. The company secured a strategic investment from Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited through its venture arm, Takeda Ventures; the terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Presage is applying the CIVO platform across Takeda’s development pipeline, from identifying novel drug combinations to translating those findings to the clinic. It is also validating the platform in veterinary oncology in canine patients. The company expected to commence its second clinical study of the platform with the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Q1 2016 in patients with soft tissue sarcomas. Presage Biosciences develops a platform that places multiple "threads" of potential cancer treatments into a living tumor to compare side-by-side how well they kill cancer cells. Under a new research deal, Celgene will use Presage's technology for preclinical screening of cancer drug candidates. As part of that deal Presage disclosed an $8 million equity investment and about $5 million in up-front research payments; the company also disclosed the potential for an additional $7.8 million in equity that a media representative declined to detail. President Nathan Caffo said the company planned to use the cash to double in size and add capabilities to make its technologies easier to use. Longer term, Presage researchers are working on a hand-held device to inject microdoses of drugs into tumors in vivo so surgeons could analyze tumor sections after removal and pick the best-performing drug. Seattle-based Presage was formed in 2008 based on technology invented in Dr. James Olson's lab at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Total raised

$27M

Funding rounds

5

Latest round

Convertible Note

Latest activity

Mar 2021