Obsidian Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company at the forefront of engineered cell and gene therapies, has completed a successful Series C financing round. Led by new investor Wellington Management, the financing round was substantially oversubscribed, closing at $160.5 million. Joining Wellington Management in this round are notable new investors, including Foresite Capital, Janus Henderson Investors, Novo Holdings A/S, Paradigm BioCapital, RTW Investments, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., and Woodline Partners LP. Furthermore, existing investors, including Atlas Venture, Blue Owl Healthcare Opportunities, Bristol Myers Squibb, Deep Track Capital, Logos Capital, RA Capital Management, TCGX, Samsara BioCapital, and Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company), also participated in the financing.

The funds raised will be directed towards advancing Obsidian’s OBX-115 through its ongoing clinical trials, with the aim to focus on patient enrollment, reaching pivotal clinical and regulatory milestones, and scaling up manufacturing in preparation for pivotal trial readiness. OBX-115, Obsidian’s lead investigational cytoTIL15™ program, is a novel engineered tumor-derived autologous T cell immunotherapy (tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte [TIL] cell therapy) equipped with pharmacologically regulatable membrane-bound IL15 (mbIL15). The expected benefits of mbIL15 and Obsidian’s proprietary manufacturing process to enhance persistence, antitumor activity, and clinical safety hold promise for patients with advanced or metastatic melanoma and other solid tumors. OBX-115 is currently under investigation in two ongoing and enrolling clinical trials in advanced or metastatic melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

In conjunction with the financing announcement, Obsidian also disclosed the appointment of Ray Camahort, PhD., Partner in the Venture Investments group at Novo Holdings US, to its Board of Directors. Dr. Camahort expressed confidence in Obsidian's future, stating, “Obsidian’s engineered TIL cell therapy is highly differentiated and has the potential to bring transformational efficacy to patients with solid tumors.” 

“We look forward to supporting Obsidian’s team on their journey to bring OBX-115 to additional patients.” 

Irina Margine, PhD., Biotech Sector Lead at Wellington Management, emphasized, “Wellington is excited to be supporting Obsidian through its next phase of growth, as the Company continues demonstrating the potential of OBX-115 to address the unmet need of patients with immune checkpoint inhibitor-resistant advanced or metastatic melanoma. The Company has been generating momentum with its novel cytoDRiVE technology and advancing OBX-115 into late-stage clinical trials.”

“The strong demand and support from this syndicate of premier investors is a testament to the promise of OBX-115 for patients with treatment-resistant advanced melanoma,” expressed Madan Jagasia, M.D., M.S., Chief Executive Officer of Obsidian. “This financing provides funding through key clinical readouts in melanoma and is the catalyst to continue expanding OBX-115 into NSCLC, where there is significant potential and high unmet need,” Dr. Jagasia stressed.