Cancer Firm Akriveia Gets Funding

Biotech company Akriveia Therapeutics has received a $7.5 million Series A investment from an East Coast venture capital firm. Akriveia of Thousand Oaks will use the money from F-Prime Capital Partners of Cambridge, Mass., to hire employees and build a pipeline for its immunotherapeutics. Akriveia is developing products to treat cancer patients by using their own immune system. F-Prime invests in life sciences, health care and technology companies. Partner Ben Auspitz joins the Akriveia board and executive partner Dr. Thomas Beck has been named as chairman. F-Prime is committed to helping Akriveia achieve its goals, Beck said. “The company’s platform has the potential to rapidly generate highly differentiated therapeutic candidates for proven as well as novel targets,” Beck said in a prepared statement.