As further proof that cancer immunotherapy is no longer the biopharma pariah of several years ago, Immune Design Corp. closed a $49 million Series C round to advance its lead candidates into the clinic.

The financing, which nearly doubles the Seattle-based biotech’s $52 million venture capital to date, includes $32.5 million up front, with the remaining $16.5 million anticipated after the firm gathers Phase I data, said President and CEO Carlos Paya. Immune Design aims to move into the clinic next year.

Founded in 2008, the company launched operations with two separate but complementary platforms: an immunotherapy technology designed to target antigen-presenting cells and an adjuvant technology based on a Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) agonist approach. At that time, it made sense to advance the adjuvant program first.

For starters, the adjuvant technology, which is designed to boost vaccine responses, was more advanced and more likely to attract partnerships. In fact, in 2010, Immune Design inked a deal with Astrazeneca plc unit Medimmune Inc., licensing rights to its glucopyranosyl lipid adjuvant (GLA) for use in vaccines against infectious diseases in exchange for undisclosed up-front fees and up to $212 million in milestones. Subsequent deals followed with Sanofi SA inking a research collaboration in the area of allergy vaccines, and a license to Medicago Inc., for adding the GLA component to vaccines targeting pandemic influenza. (See BioWorld Today, Oct. 27, 2010.)

Adjuvants also offered less risk for a small company, especially back in 2008, when the field of cancer immunotherapy – also known as cancer vaccines – was strewn with failures. But approval of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s Yervoy (ipilimumab) and other promising development candidates entering the game have brought back credibility to the space, with late-stage immunotherapy players like Newlink Genetics Corp. taking the stage at this year’s American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting. (See BioWorld Today, June 3, 2013.)

“We’re learning from all the mistakes of the past,” Immune Design’s Paya told BioWorld Today.

The company’s approach is simple enough to explain: reactivating a patient’s immune system by delivering antigen-encoding nucleic acids to dendritic cells. Candidate ID-LV305 uses the firm’s third-generation lentivector platform to selectively target dermal dendritic cells in vivo – “like a flu shot in the arm,” Paya said – to activate the immune system against the tumor, triggering the production of cytotoxic T cells.

Targeting dendritic cell activation has been proven in the clinic, thanks to the approval of Dendreon Corp.’s prostate cancer vaccine Provenge (sipuleucel-T). But unlike autologous Provenge, which has suffered commercially due to its onerous manufacturing and treatment protocol, Immune Design’s product is an off-the-shelf therapy.

As yet, the company has not disclosed the specific antigen it plans to target, though Paya said the platform could “clone any type of antigen.” Initial clinical testing will involve solid tumor cancers.

Also in its pipeline, the firm has ID-G305, a cancer therapeutic generated using the TLR4 platform that’s designed to promote tumor Ag-specific Th1 CD4 T cells. That product also is expected to move into Phase I testing in solid tumors, hopefully next year, and is targeting tumors expressing the same antigen delivered by ID-LV305.

“Our ultimate plan is to test both individually in Phase I,” Paya explained, and then move into studies testing the two products in combination. He said combining the two should produce “the biggest kick to the immune system.”

It’s a strategy that resonated with investors. The current financing environment isn’t the most receptive to early stage firms, Paya noted, but Immune Design was able to recruit new investor Topspin Partners, which led the financing with the Column Group. Also joining was Sanofi’s venture arm, Sanofi-Genzyme Bioventures, with existing investors Alta Partners, Versant Ventures, Osage Partners and Proquest Investments participating.

The latest round should carry the company about three years, long enough to get proof-of-concept data for its programs, Paya said. Going forward, Immune Design could have options, depending on its focus. It could seek partners or perhaps even consider going forward on its own in orphan cancer indications.

The company, which is adding operations in San Francisco, has roughly 30 employees and recently has beefed up its management team. In addition to Paya, who joined as CEO two years ago after serving as president at Elan Corp. plc, Immune Design has added Stephen Brady as chief business officer, Richard T. Kenney as chief medical officer, Jan Henrick ter Meulen as chief scientific officer and Frank J. Hsu as vice president and head of oncology.