Scorpion Therapeutics has a fresh $150 million to work with as it moves an experimental breast cancer drug through clinical trials in an effort to best Novartis’ targeted therapy Piqray.
This latest megaround was co-led by Frazier Life Sciences and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Scorpion was started during the Covid-19 pandemic by serial biotech executive Gary Glick and Mass General Cancer Center’s Keith Flaherty, who has been dubbed the “Hamilton of medicine” and whose previous startup Loxo Oncology became Eli Lilly’s cancer division.
The $150 million raise comes about three and a half years after the company’s back-to-back $162 million Series B and $108 million Series A rounds. The company launched with a broad vision to develop new targeted cancer treatments that fall into three buckets: (1) targets where the already available treatments have a problem to be fixed; (2) known targets that have historically been deemed ‘undruggable’; and (3) completely new targets.
“Clearly the first few targets are more from the first bucket rather than buckets two or three,” Scorpion CEO Adam Friedman said.
Scorpion’s lead asset is an inhibitor of PI3Kα, a prominent driver of breast cancer and other tumors. Novartis’ PI3Kα inhibitor Piqray was approved in 2019 for certain advanced breast cancer patients with a PIK3CA mutation.
However, the drug comes with substantial side effects, including hyperglycemia, or high blood sugar. Scorpion hopes that its inhibitor, which blocks mutant PI3Kα but spares the wild-type protein, will come with fewer toxicities. The experimental drug, known as STX-478, is currently in Phase 1/2 studies. Friedman declined to say when exactly the biotech plans to share clinical trial data, noting that Scorpion is a private company.
“We would like to disclose that data at an academic medical conference, and look to do so at some point in the near future,” said Friedman, who took the helm in January. He helped start Scorpion and was president of corporate strategy and business development before becoming CEO.
Other companies, including Genentech and Lilly’s Loxo, are similarly pursuing more specific versions of a PI3Kα inhibitor. Totus Medicines is developing a PI3Kα inhibitor that spares PI3Kβ.
Scorpion is also developing two next-generation EGFR inhibitors in partnership with Pierre Fabre, and the company has three other programs that remain undisclosed.
When asked whether the Series C was less than expected or whether it was a down round, since it was smaller than the company’s Series B, Friedman said, “We certainly could have raised more but wanted to stay disciplined, and focus on raising money to really get us past the next few clinical milestones, in particular for STX-478 but also for the rest of our pipeline.”
And when asked whether an IPO was in the cards, Friedman said, “Among potential strategic options includes a public financing. There are many variables that, together with our shareholders, with our board, we’ll determine the timing and the nature of what that next strategic option will be.”