A University of Pennsylvania spinout founded by immunotherapy pioneers Dr. Carl June and James Riley came out of stealth mode Friday with its announcement it has raised $18 million in seed financing.
BlueWhale Bio Inc. was founded with a technology platform to address and overcome bottlenecks in the cell and gene therapy manufacturing process. June and Riley co-invented technology they say could bring the benefits of cell therapy to more patients faster and at lower costs.
The company is not providing additional details of its technology and planned products at this time. BlueWhale Bio did say the aim of its platform is to bring cell and gene therapy benefits to patients faster and at a lower cost.
"We are looking to develop and commercialize a new cell therapy platform to improve patient care and save lives," said June, who is a professor of immunotherapy at Penn's Perelman School of Medicine. "With an increased focus on growth and adoption, cell-based therapies can become the next pillar of medicine."
The Philadelphia company, based at the Cira Centre at 2929 Arch St., is being led by CEO Peter Keller. Keller was previously the CEO of Boston-based Monopteros Therapeutics.
BlueWhale Bio's seed funding round was led by Danaher Ventures, the corporate venture subsidiary of Danaher Corp. of Washington, D.C. Other investors include Novalis LifeSciences and Marshall Wace. BlueWhale Bio is the first company to emerge from the Danaher Ventures Pioneer Program, which has a goal of creating companies in partnership with leading technology founders to develop and commercialize "highly disruptive" products and services that advance scientific research and improve lives.
Penn has granted an option to BlueWhale Bio to enter into a license for rights to certain intellectual property owned by the university. June and Riley, a professor of microbiology at Penn, are serving as consultants in BlueWhale Bio and hold equity in the company. The duo may receive future financial consideration and sponsored research funding from BlueWhale Bio.
June previously led the team at Penn that developed the revolutionary CAR T-cell therapy for treating certain types of blood cancers by bio-engineering a person's own cells to improve the ability of the immune system to target and attack tumors. The team produced what became the Novartis anti-cancer drug Kymriah, which in 2017 became the first CAR T-cell therapy approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
