Tessa Therapeutics, an international clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focusing on T cell therapy for solid tumors, announced the completion of a USD 80 million financing round led by Temasek, an investment company headquartered in Singapore, and joined by EDBI, Karst Peak Capital, Heliconia, Heritas and other investors.

Andrew Khoo, co-founder and CEO of Tessa Therapeutics, commented: "We are very pleased with the success in this financing round which validates our work and continued progress in the development of Tessa's Virus Specific T cell platform technology and clinical pipeline. Tessa plans to expand its global presence and advance next generation cellular therapies targeting a wide range of cancer indications."

Tessa will use the proceeds from this funding round to further advance its clinical pipeline and to bring new therapies, based on the company's Virus Specific T cell (VST) platform, into clinical trials.

Tessa's VST technology is showing compelling results in the treatment of solid tumors. The company is currently conducting a multi-center Phase III trial targeting nasopharyngeal cancer and a Phase I trial targeting cervical cancer and oropharyngeal cancer.   In recent years, Tessa has built robust operational and supply chain capabilities allowing the company to effectively deliver autologous T cell therapy treatments to a large patient pool internationally.

Virus-Specific T cells are produced through a selective expansion process that gives them the ability to infiltrate and survive in solid tumors long enough to attack and destroy them from within, a key differentiator to other cell therapies. Tessa's VSTs migrate to the tumor site and kill cancer cells with precision leaving healthy cells unharmed, leading to high treatment efficacy and safety.