Temasek-backed Tessa Therapeutics to cease operations after failure to raise funding

TESSA Therapeutics, one of the top-funded biotech startups in Singapore, will soon enter liquidation after failing to find investors to continue funding the development of its cancer treatment cell therapies.

Tessa’s board decided to cease the company’s operations after a market downturn hindered efforts to raise more funding or secure a strategic buyer, the company said in a letter to shareholders, seen by The Business Times (BT).

The closure of one of Singapore’s most promising biotech companies, whose backers include state-linked EDBI and US-based healthcare investor Polaris Partners, raises larger implications for the city-state’s emerging ecosystem.