26 January 2021 - - US-based biopharmaceutical company TScan Therapeutics has closed an oversubscribed USD 100m Series C financing, the company said.

The financing round added new investors including funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, RA Capital Management, and two undisclosed healthcare-focused funds.

Existing investors including founding investor Longwood Fund, 6 Dimensions Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, GV, Novartis Venture Fund and Pitango HealthTech also participated in the round.

Proceeds from this financing will be used to advance TScan's TCR-T cell therapy pipeline for solid and liquid tumors into the clinic.

TScan is advancing a multi-TCR T cell therapy program for solid tumors, with plans to nominate an initial set of three target candidates in 2021 and IND submissions to follow in 2022.

The company also signed a strategic partnership with Novartis in 2020 for the discovery of novel oncology targets in a select solid tumor indication.

TScan expects to complete IND-enabling studies for two of its liquid tumor programs, TSC-100 and TSC-101, and submit INDs for both programs with the US Food and Drug Administration in the second half of 2021.

The company is also exploring use of its novel target discovery technology for both infectious and autoimmune diseases.

TScan discovers and develops transformative T cell therapies (TCR-T) to treat solid tumors and hematologic malignancies, as well as other serious diseases.

Our proprietary, high-throughput platform identifies novel, clinically-derived, shared T cell antigens and all off-target TCR interactions. TScan is applying this platform to the development of highly efficacious TCR-T cell therapies with minimal off-target effects.

Lead programs TSC-100 and TSC-101 are expected to enter clinical development for hematologic malignancies in 2021, and the company is advancing additional TCR-T cell programs for solid cancers.

The company has raised over USD 180m to date from leading strategic collaborators, including Novartis, founding investor Longwood Fund and other investors.