Halda Therapeutics raises $126M to overcome drug resistance in cancer

The company will start clinical trials for prostate cancer, and develop a breast cancer therapeutic

Drug resistance to standard treatments is common in metastatic cancer: some reasons for this include tumor heterogeneity where cancer cells in tumors are not identical, and can evolve to develop ways to circumvent treatment mechanisms over time. It can also be caused by genetic characteristics of metastatic tumors, which can make them resistant to standard treatments.

To combat this, biotechnology company Halda Therapeutics has developed a novel class of cancer therapies called Regulated Induced Proximity Targeting Chimeras (RIPTAC)  therapeutics. These are oral, precision heterobifunctional molecules that are designed to overcome drug resistance and address unmet need in patients with major solid tumors.

In the first half of 2025, the company is planning to begin its initial clinical trial for RIPTAC therapeutics in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer; in order to fund these trials it announced on Monday that it raised $126 million in a Series B extension.

The funding came from new investors Deep Track Capital, Frazier Life Sciences, RA Capital Management, Vida Ventures, Boxer Capital and Taiho Ventures, as well as existing investors Canaan Partners, Access Biotechnology, Elm Street Ventures, and Connecticut Innovations. With this latest funding, Halda has now raised $202 million in total.

RIPTAC, which deploy a heterobifunctional molecule that targets two proteins for a cancer cell-killing mechanism to address a specific cancer type; the company calls this a “hold and kill” mechanism, bringing together a cancer-specific protein and a protein with essential function, result in the death of the cancer cells while sparing non-cancer tissue.

The company plans to use the funding to advance two RIPTAC candidates into clinical trials, initially in the metastatic setting, including Halda’s lead RIPTAC therapeutic, HLD-0915, which is expected to initiate a Phase 1 clinical trial in the first half of next year for the treatment of patients with metastatic, castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). The money will be used also support the clinical development of a second RIPTAC therapeutic for metastatic breast cancer.

In addition, the company plans to use the funding to build its team and to develop additional products using its RIPTAC platform to address other indications.

Along with the funding, it was also revealed that Halda added four new members to its board: Rebecca Luse, Principal at Deep Track Capital; Joe Cabral, Principal at Frazier Life Sciences; Nandita Shangari, PhD, Managing Director at RA Capital Management; and Arjun Goyal, MD, Co-Founder and Managing Director at Vida Ventures.

“We are excited to have the support of this leading group of new healthcare investors who share our vision to be a cancer drug innovator. This financing will enable us to bring to patients our oral, selective, and widely applicable cancer cell-killing mechanism that is designed to overcome drug resistance, which is a major shortcoming of many current standard of care cancer treatments,” Kat Kayser-Bricker, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer of Halda Therapeutics, said in a statement. 

“Our team of talented scientists has made tremendous progress, from inventing the RIPTAC modality to translating our platform into two promising programs in prostate cancer and breast cancer, with our first drug candidate entering the clinic in the first half of 2025 for mCRPC patients.”

(Image source: haldatx.com)