ICT Secures Equity Financing to Advance its Next Generation Liquid and Solid Tumor CAR-T Programs

According to globenewswire.com, Innovative Cellular Therapeutics (ICT), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a comprehensive platform of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies for liquid and solid tumors, announced that it has closed a U.S. dollar Series B+ equity financing for an undisclosed amount. The lead investor, LH Ventures, is a prominent venture capital firm targeting disruptive technologies in the healthcare sector and other innovations. 

ICT is a Shanghai-based biotechnology company engaged in research and development of cell therapy.  It focuses on the development of cellular immunotherapies for the treatment of liquid and solid tumors. ICT has achieved promising preclinical and clinical results in late-stage leukemia and lymphoma with its next-generation CAR-T constructs.

Proceeds from the capital raise will be used to advance ICTCAR014 – ICT's next-generation CD19-targeting armored CAR-T cell therapy that expresses a dominant-negative PD-1 protein to block immunosuppression by cancer cells – into a U.S. clinical trial in the first part of 2020, and to further develop ICT's "CoupledCAR" CAR-T cell therapy platform in solid tumors.

Previously, ICT raised $28.6M in Series B from SBCVC, Witruth Capital, Shenzhen GTJA Investment Group and Volcanics Venture.

"We are deeply impressed by the ICT team, their innovation capabilities and the response of the initial patients to the company's next-generation armored dominant-negative PD-1 CAR-T cell therapy and CoupledCAR technologies," said Xin Xie, Ph.D., Partner at LH Ventures. "We believe ICT's platform technologies will create significant breakthroughs in the fight against both liquid and solid tumors."

LH Ventures is a prominent venture capital firm targeting early-stage opportunities of innovation and disruptive technologies. It boasts an investment team consisting of entrepreneurs, scientists, doctors, and capital market experts. LH Ventures identifies teams and companies which have significant value potential and helps them grow into industry leaders.