Kahr Medical has completed a $ 46.5 million round of funding

Kahr Medical, which develops immunotherapeutic drugs to treat cancer, has completed a $ 46.5 million round of funding led by Marius Nacht's a-Moon fund, and other new investors such as BVF Partners, American DAFNA Capital, Peregrine Fund, Shavit Capital and Cancer Focus Fund. The company's veteran investors - Pavilion Capital, Uriella, Fleury Invest, Hadasit and Mirae Asset - also participated in the raising.
The amount raised by Kahr will be used to fund clinical development in the 1/2 phase of the company's flagship product - DSP107 - intended for the treatment of solid cancers and leukemias. DSP107 is an immunotherapeutic drug with a dual mechanism of action. The molecule binds to CD47 - a protein that controls the immune system, which is expressed at a high level in many types of cancers.
In recent years, this protein has been the target of intense research activity, after clinical trials of drugs designed to work against it showed good results, leading to the acquisition of Forty Seven by Gilead for $ 4.9 billion in March 2020, and a partnership agreement worth up to $ 1.9 billion. Between AbbVie (+ 0.11% 115.96) and Imab. The CD47 protein produces a biological signal that inhibits the anti-cancer activity of the innate immune system by disguising the cancer cell and preventing macrophages from killing it.
Kahr's product binds to CD47 and neutralizes the immune system. But in addition to this activity, which is similar to the activity of other immunotherapeutic drugs developed against CD47, the other side of the Kahr molecule - the 41BBL protein - binds to the receptor on the T cells, giving them a signal to act to eliminate the cancer cell to which it is attached.