Elephas Biosciences, a private company that has developed an innovative live tumor profiling platform for immunotherapy response prediction, today announced a Series B-2 funding of $40 million.

The equity round included participation from existing investors including Northpond Ventures, ARCH Venture Partners, the State of Wisconsin Investment Board, Tao Capital Partners, Sands Capital, Venture Investors Health Fund, among others.

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, with the number of patients projected to triple by 2060. Despite a significant increase in the number of available immunotherapies, only 1 in 5 patients receiving immunotherapy obtain a response and many who may respond are not eligible for therapy due to lack of accurate predictive biomarkers. With the mission to tackle this massive dilemma, Elephas has developed an ex-vivo live tumor profiling platform for immunotherapy response prediction. By preserving the native tumor microenvironment from a live core needle biopsy and using a novel method to address tumor heterogeneity, the Elephas Live platform enables a real-time characterization of immune response.