Overview
GlobeImmune occupies 40,000 square feet of laboratory, office and GMP manufacturing space in Louisville, Colorado and employs approximately 40 people.
GlobeImmune Inc. is a private company developing therapeutic vaccines for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases. The Company’s lead infectious disease product candidate, GI-5005, is a Tarmogen® product being developed for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C infection (HCV). The Company’s lead oncology programs, GI-4000 and GI-6207, target cancers caused by mutated versions of the Ras oncoprotein and CEA expressing tumors respectively. GI-4000 is being investigated in clinical trials for the treatment of cancers expressing mutated Ras, including non-small cell lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, and colorectal cancer. GI-6207 is being evaluated in clinical trials in patients with CEA expressing tumors. In July, 2008 GlobeImmune signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with NCI and the National Institutes of Health to jointly develop multiple product candidates intended to treat a variety of cancers. In May, 2009, the Company announced a global partnership with Celgene focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of multiple product candidates for the treatment of cancer.
All of the Company’s Tarmogen® products are developed from its proprietary platform technology. Tarmogens are whole, heat killed recombinant S. cerevisiae yeast that express one or more disease-associated proteins. Tarmogens are avidly taken up by antigen presenting cells, such as dendritic cells and macrophages, generating activated T cells capable of locating and eliminating any cell expressing the same disease-related protein. The unique composition of the Tarmogen vector also suppresses the regulatory T cell response, further amplifying immune activity.
Lead products
The GI-5005 Tarmogen elicits an HCV-specific T cell response designed to clear infected liver cells. In a randomized phase 2b study of 140 patients chronically infected with genotype 1 HCV, GI-5005 was administered in combination with standard of care (SOC), compared with administration of SOC alone and demonstrated:
- Improved viral clearance, biochemical markers and biopsies
- Excellent safety and tolerability
- Pharmacogenomic targeting with a 60% viral clearance advantage over SOC alone in IL28B T/T patients
- The potential as a future backbone for interferon-free treatment of HCV
- First successful therapeutic vaccine treating chronic infection
The phase 2b study is being expanded, treating a total of 27 IL28B T/T patients to better quantify the treatment effect in this high-need population.
GI-4000 for mutated-Ras cancers
The GI-4000 Tarmogen is designed to treat cancers caused by mutations in a cellular protein called Ras. Mutations in Ras lead to uncontrolled cell division and are an underlying cause of approximately 170,000 cases of cancer in the US annually including pancreas, NSCLC, colorectal and
ovarian cancers.
- Only advanced clinical product for Ras mutated cancers
- Excellent safety and tolerability
- Highly immunologically active in oncology patients
GI-6207 for CEA-expressing cancers
The GI-6207 Tarmogen targets cancers expressing carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA). A phase 1 dose escalation trial was conducted at the NCI
demonstrating excellent safety/tolerability, robust immune and correlated clinical and biomarker responses in late-stage oncology patients. A phase 2 trial in medullary thyroid cancer is being initiated at the NCI
Financings
GlobeImmune received $5 million in seed and grant financing from a variety of sources prior to completing an $8 million Series A financing with Sequel Venture Partners of Boulder, CO; HealthCare Ventures, LLC. of Cambridge, MA; and Morgenthaler Ventures of Menlo Park, CA in 2003.
In December 2005, GlobeImmune closed $38.4 million in Series B financing to support continued clinical development of its lead programs. This round was led by Lilly Ventures and included other new investors Medica Venture Partner, Adams Street Partners, PAC-LINK Bio, CIDC, Biogen Idec, Inc., Genentech, Inc., Yasuda, Partners Healthcare and GC&H Investments. All of the Company’s original Series A Preferred Stock investors also participated in the financing.
In September 2007, GlobeImmune closed a $41.2 million Series C financing led by Wexford Capital LLC. Other new investors in GlobeImmune included Celgene, Inc., Mellon Family Investment Company, Eminent Venture Capital, Boston Life Science Venture, and WRF Capital.
In May 2009, the Company signed a broad oncology partnership with the Celgene Corporation. Under the terms of the agreement, GlobeImmune received a $40 million upfront payment from Celgene, which includes a $10 million Series D equity investment in the Company.
In January 2010, announced a Series E Preferred Stock financing of $18 million. The round was led by new investors Generali Financial Holding. Advisory for the new investors was BSI Healthcapital SA of Lugano, Switzerland. Existing investors in GlobeImmune also participated in the financing.