Kyverna Therapeutics Extends Series B Financing Round to $145 Million and Brings in New Investors

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Aug 03, 2023, 05:00 ET

Bain Capital Life Sciences and GordonMD® Global Investments LP join existing investors

Proceeds to support clinical development of novel fully human anti-CD19 CAR T-cell therapies for autoimmune diseases

EMERYVILLE, Calif., Aug. 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Kyverna Therapeutics ("Kyverna"), a clinical-stage cell therapy company with the mission of engineering a new class of therapies for autoimmune diseases, today announced the close of an oversubscribed $60 million Series B financing round extension, bringing the total Series B financing round to $145 million. New investors, Bain Capital Life Sciences and GordonMD® Global Investments LP, join existing investors Gilead Sciences, Westlake Village BioPartners, Vida Ventures, Northpond Ventures, RTW Investments, Insight Partners, CAM Capital, LYFE Capital, jVen Capital, and others.

"We are pleased by the increasing investor confidence in the promise of Kyverna's anti-CD19 CAR T-cell therapy for autoimmune diseases," said Ryan Jones, chief financial officer of Kyverna. "This Series B extension will fund Kyverna's clinical studies in the U.S. and Europe, enabling us to move more quickly toward bringing potentially transformative and life-saving therapies to patients. We continue to treat autoimmune patients in multiple indications and multiple geographies, and we look forward to sharing clinical data in the second half of 2023."

"I have supported anti-CD19 CAR T-cell therapy for cancer since the early clinical trials. It is exciting to see Kyverna break into new frontiers by advancing cell therapies for autoimmune diseases. I am looking forward to future developments from Kyverna," said Craig Gordon, M.D., founder, chief executive officer, and chief investment officer of Gordon MD® Global Investments LP.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy involves modifying a patient's immune T cells to recognize and remove B cells in the patient's body. Kyverna's anti-CD19 CAR T-cell therapies, KYV-101 and KYV-201, specifically target CD19, a protein expressed on the surface of B cells which is involved in various types of autoimmune diseases including lupus nephritis. These novel therapies have the potential to offer new hope to patients who have exhausted current treatment options. Kyverna continues to explore additional indications for its anti-CD19 CAR T-cell therapies, as well as develop a robust pipeline of promising immunotherapies aimed at addressing unmet medical needs.

About KYV-101
KYV-101 is an autologous version of a novel, fully human clinical-stage anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell construct with properties well suited for use in B cell-driven autoimmune diseases such as lupus nephritis and other B cell-driven autoimmune diseases. In a 20-patient Phase 1/2 study in oncology, expected anti-lymphoma activity was associated with a significant reduction of cytokines released that translated into a strong reduction of cytokine-driven side effects, such as the rate of immune effector cells-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS)¹. The fully human anti-CD19 CAR also translated into reduced immunogenicity that favorably impacted cell persistence at one month. Kyverna recognized that these properties singled out KYV-101 as a product ideally poised for use in autoimmune disease patients, and the company obtained exclusive, worldwide licenses from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to use this anti-CD19 construct in both autologous and allogeneic CAR T-cell therapies. KYV-101 has initiated a Phase 1 clinical trial in lupus nephritis in the U.S. and a Phase 1/2 trial in Germany.

About KYV-201
KYV-201 is an allogeneic version of Kyverna's novel, fully human clinical-stage anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell construct with properties well suited for use in B cell-driven autoimmune diseases such as lupus nephritis and other B cell-driven autoimmune diseases. KYV-201 leverages the power of genome editing through a proprietary ex vivo CRISPR/Cas9-based allogeneic platform for use in B cell-mediated autoimmune diseases.

About Kyverna Therapeutics
Kyverna Therapeutics is a clinical-stage cell therapy company with the mission of engineering a new class of therapies for autoimmune diseases. The Kyverna therapeutic platform combines advanced T cell engineering and synthetic biology technologies to suppress and eliminate the autoreactive immune cells at the origin of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Kyverna's pipeline includes next-generation chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies in both autologous and allogeneic formats with properties well suited for use in B cell-driven autoimmune diseases. By offering more than one mechanism for taming autoimmunity, Kyverna is positioned to act on its mission of transforming how autoimmune diseases are treated. For more information, please visit https://kyvernatx.com.

¹Brudno et al., Nature Medicine 2020; 26:270-280.

SOURCE Kyverna Therapeutics