{"id":260317,"date":"2026-08-06T13:06:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T13:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/260317\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T13:06:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T13:06:08","slug":"fore-bio-cancer-drug-adds-67m-to-its-series-d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/260317\/","title":{"rendered":"Fore Bio cancer drug adds $67M to its Series D"},"content":{"rendered":"

Money Moves<\/a>\u00a0is a recurring series where we chart the raises, grants, contracts, mergers and other funding news of tech companies across our regions. Have a tip? Email us at\u00a0[email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dollars are flowing for healthcare-focused companies and research in Philly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Biotech company Fore Biotherapeutics raised $67 million, a huge addition to its already large Series D, to support late-stage development of its cancer treatment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Wistar Institute also secured funding for research. The org received $800,000 for one researcher\u2019s skin cancer work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nearby, universities in the region are also making strides to healthcare research. The University of Delaware is leading a $21.5 million program with the National Science Foundation, the University of Pennsylvania and three other schools to study how AI can assist healthcare providers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Get all the details and more money moves below.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fore Bio lands $67M late-stage add-on<\/p>\n

University City-based biotech company Fore Biotherapeutics raised $67 million<\/a> as part of a Series D-2 extension. The funding will support ongoing development of the company\u2019s cancer drug plixorafenib.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The oral medication targets mutations in cancer cells, specifically BRAF gene alterations that control how cells grow and divide, which cause several subtypes of the disease, like melanoma.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur long-term strategy is ultimately to bring plixorafenib to as many patients as possible that have some form of BRAF alteration,\u201d CFO Michael Byrnes told Technical.ly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last May, Fore Bio closed a $38 million extension<\/a> of its Series D. The original round in 2023 was worth $75 million<\/a>, meaning the company has now brought in more than $180 million total over the last three years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

UDel, Penn join $21.5M NSF AI healthcare effort\u00a0<\/p>\n

The University of Delaware is leading a $21.5 million National Science Foundation (NSF)-supported program to develop AI tools for healthcare settings<\/a>, along with the University of Pennsylvania and three other schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The newly launched NSF AI Institute for Human AI Cooperation (HAIC) is setting out to develop tools such as digital twins, personalized treatment plans, technology that adapts to individual patient needs and training tools for providers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want AI that can integrate the many modalities of information involved in patient care, adapt as a patient\u2019s condition and a clinician\u2019s goals change and communicate its reasoning in ways that support \u2026 human judgment,\u201d Eric Eaton, Penn Engineering professor and HAIC managing director, told Technical.ly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The University of Delaware will lead the program out of its Data Science Institute, in partnership with Penn, Delaware State University, Princeton University and the University of Florida.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cResearchers will work together through shared research thrusts and working groups focused on developing fundamental advances in multimodal AI, personalization and adaptive learning, human-AI collaboration and AI education,\u201d Eaton said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wistar secures $800k for skin cancer research<\/p>\n

Research center the Wistar Institute received<\/a> an $800,000 grant to support melanoma research.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The funding comes from the V Foundation for Cancer Research and will support Wistar scientist Jessie Villanueva and her lab. Villanueva\u2019s team is studying potential treatments for drug-resistant skin cancer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is to find treatments that either fully remove tumors or keep them away for as long as possible,\u201d Villanueva said. \u201cBy going after the cells that survive treatment, we hope to improve outcomes for people with melanoma.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

More money moves:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Newly formed Iceland-based company Synaptiq Therapeutics acquired<\/a> Philly biotech Nobias Therapeutics, taking over its lead drug candidate, a treatment for the genetic disorder 22q11.2 deletion syndrome.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania invested<\/a> $6.5 million in 28 companies last year, according to the org\u2019s latest impact report.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bucks County-based startup DiaVac Biotech received $500,000 from the latest round<\/a> of Pennsylvania\u2019s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grants to expand its facilities.<\/p>\n

The Philadelphia Foundation selected<\/a> Penn researchers Brittney Allyn, who is studying a therapy for celiac disease, and Lucas Restrepo, who is exploring neurodevelopmental brain disorders, as its 2026 Brody Fellows. The fellowship will fund two years of research for each honoree.<\/p>\n

Malvern-based 2X, a B2B marketing firm, bought<\/a> DC-based Knownwell, which specializes in agentic AI and GTM systems.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Computer hardware company Cornelis Networks landed<\/a> $112 million in fresh funding, according to an SEC filing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Glycotest, which is developing blood tests for liver diseases, raised<\/a> $3.2 million, according to an SEC filing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This story is made possible thanks to support from\u00a0Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania<\/a>, a nonprofit that leads the Philadelphia region\u2019s equitable economic growth by nurturing and investing in innovative, early-stage companies, and through purposeful involvement in regional and national initiatives. All stories are independently reported, with no partner review.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Money Moves\u00a0is a recurring series where we chart the raises, grants, contracts, mergers and other funding news of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[676,25707,69,71,70,1164,12918],"class_list":["post-260317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-funding","tag-life-sciences","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-research","tag-universities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}