DURHAM – Shattuck Labs, a life science startup focusing on development of new treatments for cancer and autoimmune disease, has closed on $118 million in new financing and also secured Durham-based Hatteras Venture Partners as a backer.

Shattuck maintains offices in Durham and Austin, Texas. And the company is hiring to fill several positions.

Launched in 2016, the company had raised more than $82 million before Monday’s announcement, according to Crunchbase. The firm did disclose raising some $25 million in an SEC filing earlier this year.

Taylor Schreiber, an MD, is cofounder and CEO of Shattuck, having been named CEO in January of this year. He’s a former chief scientific officer at Triangle-based Heat Biologics.

Schreiber is the lead inventor of Shattuck’s proprietary development program known as Agnostic Redirected Checkpoint. According to Shattuck’s website, the ARC “discovery engine” has already “yielded over 300 potential therapeutic candidates.”

Here’s how Shattuck describes its science:


THE AGONIST REDIRECTED (ARC™) PLATFORMA NEW CLASS OF BIOLOGIC MEDICINES

Shattuck was founded to solve the challenge of consolidating checkpoint blockade and Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor Superfamily (TNFRSF) agonism into single therapeutics. The Agonist Redirected Checkpoint (ARC™) platform has emerged as the first therapeutic modality to achieve this goal. Using the modularily of the ARC platform, Shattuck has created over 300 unique therapeutic candidates for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune disease.

An ARC molecule combines an immune checkpoint receptor (such as PD-1, SIRPα, or TIGIT) with a TNF ligand (such as OX40L, 41BBL, CD40L, or LIGHT), and achieves a hexameric structure. The unique structure of ARC therapeutics has two distinct advantages when compared to antibody-based therapeutics, namely: 1) activation of TNFRSF in the absence of Fc-receptor mediated cross-linking and 2) co-localization of checkpoint blockade and immune co-stimulation within a single compound. These advantages have translated to superior tumor rejection when compared to traditional antibody therapeutics in multiple published pre-clinical studies.

Source: Shattuck Labs


Other investors in Shattuck include RedMile Group, which led the Series B round, Janus Henderson Investors, Fidelity Management & Reseach Company, EcoR1 Capital, Avidy Partners, Partner Fund Management, Emerson Collective, and Piper Sandler & Co.

“Over the past four years we have pioneered the development of our proprietary ARC technology platform, which consolidates checkpoint blockade and tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily (TNFRSF) agonism into single therapeutics, tackling many of the risks associated with a new biologics platform along the way,” said Schreiber said in the funding announcement. “The support from this syndicate of experienced life science investors will accelerate clinical development of multiple programs aimed to establish ARC therapeutics as an entirely new class of biologic medicine.”

Shattuck has multiple programs under development. The new funds will be used for clinical advacement of its two lead projects. Its lead program is being developed along with Takeda Pharmaceuticals.