In the development of its cell therapy products for a variety of cancer indications, the company will utilize its scalable ACUA technology platform. The platform leverages lymphocyte development with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and T-cell receptor (TCR) gene engineering to generate CAR-engineered invariant natural killer T (CAR-iNKT) cells from hematopoietic stem cells. The platform was developed in the laboratory of Lili Yang, PhD, of the University of California, Los Angeles.

Appia will use the initial financing to support the advancement of its pipeline of CAR-iNKT cell therapy candidates to the clinic. The company also announced the establishment of a scientific advisory board to advise research and development efforts.

As part of the series A financing led by 8VC, Francisco Gimenez, PhD, partner at 8VC, and David Moskowitz, PhD, principal at 8VC, join the company's board of directors. In addition, David Baltimore, PhD, of the California Institute of Technology was elected chair of the board.