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Funding will support completion of IND-enabling activities and planned year-end IND submission for TAVST01, Tikva’s lead off-the-shelf CAR-T candidate targeting B7-H3-positive solid tumors
SINGAPORE, July 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Tikva Allocell Pte. Ltd. ("Tikva"), a biotechnology company developing engineered, allogeneic (donor-derived) cell therapies for adult and pediatric patients with solid tumors, today announced the closing of an $8 million Series A financing led by Kantharos Capital.
Proceeds will fund IND-enabling activities and a planned year-end 2026 Investigational New Drug (IND) submission for TAVST01, Tikva’s lead candidate for B7-H3-positive solid tumors. Subject to regulatory clearance, the company plans to initiate a Phase 1 clinical trial in patients with advanced B7-H3-positive cancer at sites in Singapore and the United States.
TAVST01 targets B7-H3, a protein expressed across a broad range of difficult-to-treat solid tumors, including lung, breast, prostate, pancreatic, and pediatric cancers. Unlike conventional donor-derived cell therapies, which a patient’s immune system often clears before they can work, TAVST01 is built from Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-specific T cells – immune cells the body naturally sustains – and is engineered to resist that rejection, with preclinical potential both to kill tumor cells directly and to remodel the immunosuppressive microenvironment that has limited cell therapies in solid tumors. That durability is no accident: almost everyone carries EBV from a past infection the immune system never fully clears, so the body keeps a standing population of these virus-specific T cells on patrol for years – exactly the staying power that donor-derived cell therapies have struggled to achieve.
"Cell therapy has transformed the treatment of blood cancers but has repeatedly stalled at the solid-tumor door – the donor cells either fail to persist or are eliminated by the patient’s immune system before they can act," said Dr. Ivan Horak, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Tikva Allocell. "We started from a different place: a virus-fighting T cell the body naturally sustains, armed to seek out B7-H3 and engineered to withstand the rejection that defeats most donor-derived approaches, with minimal gene editing. With this financing, we are well positioned to complete IND-enabling studies and advance TAVST01 toward its planned IND submission, bringing us closer to delivering a scalable, readily available, and potentially transformative cell therapy for patients with solid tumors."
Tikva’s therapies are built on the ALLO SerpinB9 EBVST platform — an allogeneic, virus‑specific T‑cell technology licensed exclusively from Baylor College of Medicine and further enhanced through Tikva’s proprietary protein‑engineering strategies. These cells are equipped with a B7‑H3–targeting receptor and an optimized form of SerpinB9, a natural inhibitor of granzyme B, the enzyme immune cells use to kill their targets. Because a patient’s immune system would normally attack donor cells using granzyme B, the SerpinB9 "armor" enables Tikva’s cells to resist rejection and remain active. At the same time, the approach minimizes graft‑versus‑host disease (GvHD) with only minimal gene editing.
"Our investment reflects strong conviction in both Tikva’s science and its leadership team," said Terence Tan, Managing Partner at Kantharos Capital. "Tikva is addressing fundamental challenges that have constrained allogeneic cell therapies, and we believe its ALLO SerpinB9 EBVST platform can extend the reach of cell therapy to solid-tumor patients who today have limited options. We look forward to supporting the company toward IND submission and clinical evaluation."
About Tikva Allocell
Tikva Allocell Pte. Ltd., headquartered in Singapore, is a biotechnology company developing engineered, allogeneic (donor‑derived) cell therapies for solid tumors. The company’s pipeline is built on the ALLO SerpinB9 EBVST platform—an allogeneic, virus‑specific T‑cell technology licensed exclusively from Baylor College of Medicine and enhanced through Tikva’s proprietary protein‑engineering strategies. This platform integrates tumor‑targeting receptors such as B7‑H3 with an optimized form of SerpinB9 to help donor‑derived T cells resist granzyme‑B–mediated immune rejection, persist longer, and minimize graft‑versus‑host disease with minimal gene editing.
Tikva’s scientific foundation is rooted in decades of research at Baylor College of Medicine by Dr. Malcolm Brenner, Dr. Cliona Rooney, and Dr. Helen Heslop—leaders in virus‑specific T‑cell biology—who co‑founded Tikva with CEO Dr. Ivan Horak and serve as scientific advisors. The company’s lead program, TAVST01, is an off‑the‑shelf, B7‑H3‑targeted EBV‑specific T‑cell therapy in IND‑enabling development for a planned year‑end 2026 IND submission. TAVST01 is designed for patients with B7‑H3‑positive solid tumors, including lung, breast, prostate, pancreatic, and pediatric cancers, and has a preclinical profile that may support lymphodepletion‑free administration, repeat dosing, and combination strategies. For more information, visit www.tikvaallocell.com.
About Kantharos Capital
Kantharos Capital is a boutique private equity firm founded by a family office with more than three decades of venture investing experience across Silicon Valley, China, and Singapore. It pairs institutional discipline with the patience and long-term perspective of family capital to help founders build enduring businesses.
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