Geneos Therapeutics Secures $17 Million in Series A2 Financing to Advance Personalized Cancer Immunotherapy Platform

Geneos Therapeutics, a clinical stage biotherapeutics company focused on the development of tumor neoantigen targeted personalized immunotherapies, announced today that it has secured $17 million in Series A2 financing. The financing was led by Flerie Invest with participation from all existing Series A investors including Santé Ventures, Korea Investment Partners (KIP) – Global Bio Fund, and INOVIO Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: INO). In conjunction with the financing, Dr. Ted Fjällman, Partner, Flerie Invest joined Geneos’ Board of Directors.

“Geneos’ personalized immunotherapy shows compelling clinical data in liver cancer patients and the approach is well differentiated from the competition,” commented Dr Fjällman. “Flerie is delighted to work with the team and a great set of investors to accelerate the clinical development of this innovative platform technology.”

The proceeds will be used for the expansion of the company’s GT-30 Phase Ib/IIa clinical trial. GT-30 evaluates Geneos’ personalized cancer vaccine, GNOS-PV02, for treating patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a type of liver cancer. GNOS-PV02, is a tumor-specific DNA plasmid-based product designed and manufactured for each patient based on their unique tumor mutations (neoantigens), identified by sequencing each patient’s tumor.  In the trial, GNOS-PV02 is combined with a DNA encoded cytokine IL-12 (INO-9012) and PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor (pembrolizumab). Geneos will increase the number of patients treated from 24 to 36 patients. Additionally, the proceeds will fund pipeline expansion into a new indication, and continued company operations.

“We are excited to welcome Ted to the Board of Directors and Flerie Invest into our investor syndicate. We look forward to tapping into Flerie Invest’s network in Europe and their expertise to gain access to patients as we advance our potentially transformative personalized cancer therapies,” said Dr. Niranjan Y. Sardesai, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Geneos Therapeutics. “The Series A2 financing will enable us to expand the current pipeline by leveraging the versatility of our GT-EPIC™ platform and capitalize on its initial differentiated success in this difficult to treat type of liver cancer. We previously reported tumor reduction in over half of the patients and three partial responses by RECIST 1.1 in the first 12 patients treated and continue to see a similar trend in the next 12 patients. We look forward to showcasing durability of response data and reporting key milestone efficacy data from 24 patients in 2022.”