Zumutor Biologics raises $4 million in fresh funding

Zumutor Biologics, a biotechnology startup in the immuno-oncology space, has raised $4 million in fresh funding from the Bharat Innovation Fund and Accel Partners, bringing its total funding to $20 million so far.

The company said the capital will be used for the process of new drug filing of its lead molecule(ZM 008) in India, and to go through the first phase of clinical trials by the end of 2020.

“Our first-in-class lead molecule, ZM 008 has made industry validated progress and is poised for IND filing with Phase 1a/1b clinical trials likely to commence end of 2020,” said Kavita Iyer Rodrigues, founder and CEO of Zumutor Biologics.

Zumutor is in the niche space of developing Natural Killer (NK) cells therapeutics with a first-in-class antibody to treat prostate cancer. It also has a pipeline of immuno-oncotherapeutics molecules, developed using its own antibody engineering platforms.

The startup was one of the finalists for the Top Innovator category in The Economic Times Startup Awards, 2019 edition.

“The strong pipeline that Zumutor has developed combined with a relatively differentiated NK cell approach could lead to breakthrough treatments for multiple cancers,” said Ashwin Raguraman, Founding Partner, Bharat Innovation Fund.