Jounce Therapeutics

Jounce Therapeutics is a publicly funded, clinical-stage immunotherapy company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts that was founded in 2013 by Drew Pardoll, James P. Allison, Louis M. Weiner, Padmanee Sharma, Robert D. Schreiber, and Thomas F. Gajewski. The company is focused on the treatment of cancer by developing therapies that enable the immune system to attack tumors and provide long-lasting benefits.

Products

JTX-2011

Jounce's lead product candidate is JTX-2011, a monoclonal antibody that binds to and activates the Inducible T-Cell Co-Stimulator (ICOS), a protein on the surface of certain T-cells that is believed will stimulate an immune response against a patient's cancer. It is intended to treat solid tumors as a single agent and in combination with other therapies. JTX-2011 is being evaluated in Phase 2 clinical trials.

JTX-8064

Another product candidate in Jounce's pipeline is JTX-8064. It is the company's lead Beyond T-cell program aimed at disrupting the interaction of targets on tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) to skew the composition of macrophages within the tumor from immune-suppressing to immune-activating. Jounce is conducting IND enabling studies for this product.

JTX-4014

The third product in Jounce's pipeline is JTX-4014, another T-Cell targeting immunotherapy. The company filed its IND application in September 2018 and received approval to move to Phase 1 clinical trials in October 2018.

Partnerships

Celgene

In July 2016, Jounce entered into a collaboration with Celgene Corporation, which includes options to JTX-2011 and up to four early-stage programs to be selected from a defined pool of B cell, T regulatory cell, and tumor associated macrophage targets emerging from Jounce's Translational Science Platform and an additional option to equally share a checkpoint immuno-oncology program.

Funding

Series A

On February 14, 2013 Jounce Therapeutics completed their series A funding round with $47 million in funding from Third Rock Ventures. 

Series B

On April 23, 2015 Jounce Therapeutics completed their series B funding round with $56 million in funding from Wellington Management, Redmile Group, Pharmstandard, Omega Funds, Nextech Invest, Inbio Ventures, Foresite Capital, Cormorant Asset Management, and Casdin Capital.