T-Therapeutics secures $133 million for TCR bispecific trials

T-Therapeutics has raised $133 million in an oversubscribed Series B financing. The Cambridge, UK-based company will use the proceeds to move its first two T-cell receptor (TCR) bispecific programs into human clinical trials and generate clinical proof-of-concept data.

Advent Life Sciences and British Business Bank led the financing round. New investors JJDC, Samsara BioCapital, M Ventures, and Eli Lilly and Company joined existing backers including Sofinnova Partners, F-Prime, Digitalis Ventures, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Sanofi Ventures, Tencent, and BGF. Theodora Harold, chief executive officer of T-Therapeutics, said: "This financing is a key step in our transition to a clinical-stage company."

Program focus and platform innovation

The company builds TCR-CD3 bispecifics, which pair a TCR with a next-generation CD3-binding T-cell engager. Its proprietary OpTiMus platform generates fully human TCRs. The company claims this approach opens access to validated but previously undruggable intracellular targets, a historical limitation for T-cell engagers in solid tumors.

The lead oncology program, TTX-008, targets what the company describes as a pan-tumor driver with potential across multiple solid tumor types. The lead immunology program, TTX-018, is designed to reset the immune system by selectively depleting the pathogenic immune cells that drive chronic tissue inflammation. Neither program has yet entered human testing, and the company has not disclosed the specific molecular targets for either drug.

Leadership and board expansion

T-Therapeutics appointed Kirsty Crame as chief development officer to lead translational and clinical development. Crame brings more than 15 years of biopharmaceutical development experience, having previously served as Chief Medical Officer at Curatis and holding senior clinical development roles at Medigene AG and Gadeta BV. "I am delighted to join T-Therapeutics at this pivotal moment for the Company," said Crame.

Following the funding round, representatives from Advent Life Sciences, British Business Bank, JJDC, and Samsara BioCapital will join the company's board as non-executive directors.

The TCR bispecific landscape

The funding arrives as the field of TCR therapeutics gains momentum. In January 2022, the FDA approved Immunocore’s Kimmtrak (tebentafusp-tebn) for adults with HLA-A*02:01-positive unresectable or metastatic uveal melanoma. This was the first TCR therapeutic approved by the agency and the first bispecific T-cell engager approved for a solid tumor. Ten T cell engagers have been approved by U.S. regulators, though most are for blood cancers.

Dominic Schmidt, general partner at Advent Life Sciences, noted that T-cell engagers have delivered clinical success in haematological cancers but have been held back in solid tumours. T-Therapeutics aims to expand T cell-engaging treatments beyond these established applications. The new financing brings T-Therapeutics’ total disclosed funding to about $224 million, following a $91 million Series A round extended in November 2025. The company will use the funding to generate clinical proof-of-concept data for both programs through early human trials.