Strand Therapeutics, a biotech developing programmable mRNA therapies aimed at orchestrating protein expression in tumor cells, closed a $153 million Series B financing round. Led by Kinnevik and including strategic investors from Amgen, Lilly, and Regeneron Ventures, the funding will accelerate clinical development of the company’s lead candidate STX-001, which showed early evidence of tumor responses in checkpoint inhibitor-resistant solid tumors. Strand’s mRNA platform represents a novel immuno-oncology approach designed to “light up” tumors to the immune system with precision and timing.