Khartis Therapeutics Emerges from Stealth with $95 Million in Funding to Advance Oral Small Molecule Immunology Pipeline
- ByStartupStory | August 14, 2026
Khartis Therapeutics has emerged from stealth with USD 95 million in total funding, including a USD 50 million Series B led by Forge Life Science Partners, to advance an oral small molecule pipeline targeting immunological diseases. Longwood Fund and Alexandria Venture Investments joined the round alongside existing backers Foresite Capital, Lilly Asia Ventures, and Nextech Invest, which had supported the company’s earlier financing.
The San Diego-based company’s lead program is an oral, selective insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R) inhibitor for thyroid eye disease (TED), which Khartis describes as the first oral, selective agent designed specifically for the indication. Current standard of care centers on teprotumumab (Tepezza), an intravenous monoclonal antibody, and the company’s CSO Craig Murphy said in the announcement that existing treatments carry “real safety tradeoffs.” The IGF-1R program is pre-clinical and advancing toward the clinic; no additional pipeline programs have been disclosed by name.
Khartis was founded in 2024 by Robert Hoffman, who serves as CEO and Head of Drug Discovery; Craig Murphy, Chief Scientific Officer; and Chris LeMasters, Executive Chairman. All three previously worked together at XinThera, a small molecule drug discovery company acquired by Gilead Sciences in 2023, and much of the scientific team shares the same background.
Originally incubated within Foresite Labs, Khartis enters a TED field where IGF-1R is already clinically validated but oral approaches remain experimental. Tepezza (teprotumumab), an anti-IGF-1R antibody, established the target as a therapeutic strategy, while linsitinib, an oral small molecule that inhibits both IGF-1R and the insulin receptor, has advanced into Phase IIb development. Khartis is betting that selective IGF-1R inhibition can provide an oral alternative while avoiding liabilities associated with broader insulin receptor inhibition, although the company has yet to disclose preclinical data for its lead molecule.
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