TwoStep Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing new targeted therapeutics for solid tumors has secured $6.5 million seed funding led by NFX, with participation from other investors including 2048 Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments, Cooley’s affiliated fund GC&H Investments, and the family office of the founder of Arcadia Investment Partners. funding will be used to advance TwoStep’s therapeutic pipeline of solid tumor-targeting therapies, with an initial focus on targeted cytotoxic drug delivery and immunotherapy.
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Solid tumors, which account for approximately 90% of all cancers, have been historically challenging to treat due to a scarcity of extracellular targets that meet the criteria for effective treatment delivery. While tumor-targeted therapies have begun to transform the treatment paradigm for hematological malignancies, their viability in solid tumors has been limited to small subsets of patients with high levels of specific tumor markers. This presents a critical unmet need – and vast therapeutic opportunity – to develop a tumor-targeted approach that can viably treat the majority of solid tumors.
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“For the majority of solid tumors lacking well-defined targets, there are few precise treatment options and limited development of new modalities, which is a painful reality for many people with cancer,” said Caitlyn Miller, PhD, CEO and co-founder of TwoStep Therapeutics. “Our initial focus at TwoStep is to couple our tumor-targeting technology with clinically-validated payloads, which has the potential to extend the benefits of paradigm-shifting therapies to a greater number of patients.”
“NFX Bio backs scientist-founders creating ‘defensible magic’ for massive markets. Imagine one system that can target most solid tumors and deliver the exact treatment needed. It could mean many lives saved with one core technology platform,” said Omri Amirav-Drory, PhD, General Partner at NFX. “Caitlyn is a perfect example for a ‘scientist-founder’ and is surrounded with amazing scientific founders from Stanford including Jennifer Cochran, Ronald Levy, and Carolyn Bertozzi.”
Development of TwoStep Therapeutics’s solid tumor-focused platform was driven by the combined expertise of its founding team in chemical biology, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), and immuno-oncology. The founders established in vivo proof of concept of its multi-targeted agent using various therapeutic payloads and fusion proteins in the academic labs of its co-founders, and later within the Stanford Innovative Medicines Accelerator (IMA). It is the first company to emerge from the IMA entrepreneur-in-residence program.
About TwoStep Therapeutics
TwoStep Therapeutics is pioneering a multi-targeting platform to advance a pipeline of targeted therapies that are broadly applicable to any solid tumor. With this approach, the company aims to transform cancer treatment by extending precision medicines to more diverse tumor types and patient populations, for which few options exist. As one of the first companies to emerge from Stanford University’s Innovative Medicines Accelerator, TwoStep is the result of breakthrough innovation from iconic scientists, including Nobel Laureate Carolyn Bertozzi, Jennifer Cochran, and Ronald Levy.
