Scorpion Therapeutics has secured $150m in a Series C financing round to progress the development of its clinical-stage oncology pipeline.

Lightspeed Venture Partners and Frazier Life Sciences jointly led the funding round with support from Willett Advisors and other healthcare institutional investors.

The round also saw continued backing from existing investors Vida Ventures, Omega Funds, Atlas Venture and Abingworth, among others.

In conjunction with the funding, Lightspeed Venture partner Shelley Chu will become an investor board member and Frazier Life Sciences managing partner Albert Cha will join the board of Scorpion as an observer.

The proceeds will be used by the company to advance the clinical development of oncology assets including STX-478, an allosteric, differentiated, mutant-selective PI3Kα inhibitor.

A Phase I/II trial is currently assessing STX-478's safety and tolerability in multiple ascending doses for patients with locally advanced or metastatic HR+/HER2- breast cancer and other solid tumours with PI3Kα mutations.

The programme, which entered the clinic in 2023, is now in multiple expansion cohorts targeting a variety of solid tumours and breast cancer, both as a monotherapy and in combination with fulvestrant and CDK4/6 inhibitors.

Scorpion aims to continue progressing its clinical-stage EGFR inhibitor franchise, which includes STX-721 and STX-241, as well as its discovery pipeline of next-generation precision oncology assets.

Scorpion Therapeutics CEO Adam Friedman stated: “The robust demand for this capital raise is a testament to Scorpion’s continued clinical execution, the strength of our emerging clinical data and the quality of our rapidly advancing pipeline.

“We are pleased to strengthen the company’s financial position and expand Scorpion’s existing blue-chip investor syndicate with these additional leaders in life sciences who share our commitment to improving outcomes for people living with cancer by broadening the reach and impact of precision medicines.”