Link upsizes Series A to $90M, doses first patient

Link Cell Therapies has initiated clinical dosing for its lead program, LNK001, as well as announced three additions to its executive leadership team and a $30 million expansion of its Series A financing.

LNK001 is being evaluated in a phase 1 study in patients with advanced or metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Clinical dosing has begun at MD Anderson Cancer Center. LNK001 requires the co-expression of two antigens, CAIX and ENPP3, which are both highly expressed in most RCC tumors. By gating CAR-T activity on both antigens, LNK001 is designed to preserve the antitumor potential of CAIX targeting while sparing the healthy tissue that has constrained single-antigen approaches.

Link’s previously announced $60 million Series A financing was upsized to $90 million to advance a second solid tumor program in colorectal cancer and expand the pipeline. The round is led by Johnson & Johnson, through its corporate venture capital organization, JJDC, with participation from founding investors Samsara BioCapital and Sheatree Capital, as well as Wing Venture Capital and new investors including BMS, Kyowa Kirin, Sherpa Healthcare Partners, Western Technology Investment and the MD Anderson Cancer Focus Fund.

In addition, Jie D’Elia, Ph.D., joins as CEO and a member of the board of directors. She previously served as CEO of SystImmune and spent 11 years at BMS, most recently as SVP of Business Development, where she led more than $40 billion in strategic partnerships and acquisitions. Brian Slingerland becomes executive chair. He co-founded Link in 2022 and previously co-founded and led Stemcentrx, an ADC company acquired by AbbVie for $6.2 billion in 2016. Friedrich Graf Finckenstein, M.D., joins as chief medical officer. He most recently served as CMO of Iovance Biotherapeutics, where he helped advance TIL therapies and contributed to the approval of AMTAGVI, the first FDA-approved cell therapy for a solid tumor.