Xconomy: Avelas Bio Raises $20M to Push Cancer-Illuminating Biologic Agent
Summary
Avelas plans to use the new funding to advance development of AVB-620, the company’s lead diagnostic agent, for use in breast cancer surgeries, CEO Carmine Stengone told me yesterday.Stengone said the new funding also will help the company evaluate the use of AVB-620 in other types of cancer surgery, to advance new cancer drugs that rely on Avelas’ proprietary technology, and to expand the company’s current roster of “seven employees and an army of consultants.” Avalon Ventures founded Avelas, and has housed the startup with other Avalon biotech startups at its COI Pharmaceuticals R&D facility in San Diego.Avelas licensed its core technology from the UC San Diego lab of Roger Tsien, who shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in chemistry for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein.Avelas reported positive interim results three months ago from the early stage, proof-of-concept trial, which has been taking place at Moores, Stanford University, and UC San Francisco, Stengone said.The study also generated “some compelling pre-clinical data” on the potential use of Avelas’ cell-penetrating peptide molecule as a way to deliver toxic chemotherapy drugs inside cancer cells, Stengone said.