Bergenbio AS raised NOK75 million (US$12 million) in new funding to complete early clinical development of its first-in-class Axl kinase inhibitor BGB324 and to accelerate preclinical development of several other complementary programs.

“We’re about to start a suite of experimental trials of BGB324, both as a single agent and in combinations, in both solid tumors and hematological cancers,” Bergenbio CEO Richard Godfrey told BioWorld Today. A recently completed phase I trial of the drug in healthy volunteers triggered this latest investment – the company had raised $6 million last May.

Bergenbio, of Bergen, Norway, plans to explore the drug’s potential in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in combination with cytarabine, and in patients with non-small cell lung cancer in combination with Tarceva (erlotinib), the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor marketed by Basel, Switzerland-based Roche Holding AG. Triple-negative breast cancer is another priority indication for the drug.

Its potential application could extend to multiple oncology indications, however, and the company therefore plans to seek a partner before entering phase II trials, in order to explore its clinical potential – and the underlying biology – in full. “We’re sort of priming ourselves for a partner,” Godfrey said. “First in class is a different proposition from best in class.”

Bergenbio in-licensed BGB324 (formerly R428) from South San Francisco-based Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc. in 2011. Bergenbio’s co-founder and chief scientific officer Jim Lorens previously worked at Rigel. He is now based at the University of Bergen, where he runs a research program on the biology underpinning the role of the epidermal-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in cancer metastasis.

During the EMT, a normal program of embryonic development, epidermal cells lose their epithelial characteristics, including cell adhesion and polarity, and gain a mesenchymal phenotype, which is characterized by an ability to migrate and invade the extracellular matrix. Some tumor types hijack the EMT for metastasis or for maintaining drug-resistant cancer progenitor – or ‘stem-like’ – cells.

Axl kinase, a member of the TAM family of receptor tyrosine kinases, is activated by Growth Arrest-specific protein 6 (Gas6) and plays an important gatekeeping role downstream from the EMT trigger. Its upregulation has been correlated with poor survival in a range of cancers, including AML, breast cancer, osteosarcoma and glioblastoma multiforme. “Gas6 creates some sort of drug resistant niche in the bone marrow,” Godfrey said. “It creates a cell type that is resistant to the hostile microenvironment.”

Behind BGB324, the company is working on several antibodies that also target Axl kinase. “There may be different clinical settings where an antibody is more appropriate than a small molecule, and vice versa,” Godfrey said.

It is also working on BGB002, a small molecule that inhibits a different target involved in the EMT. The company is not disclosing its identity as yet. “I’m itching to tell everyone, because it’s very exciting – but not yet,” Godfrey said. The company wants to maintain its lead in this area, although it will unveil further details in due course. It has been referenced in about a dozen recent high-profile publications, but no one else has “joined the dots” on its significance, he said.

In other financings news:

Agenus Inc., of Lexington, Mass., said it priced a public offering of about 19.3 million primary shares of its common stock at a price of $2.70 per share, a 6.9 percent discount to Tuesday’s closing price, for gross proceeds totaling $52.2 million. The company granted underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 2.9 million shares, which could add $7.8 million to the total. Funds will be used for general corporate purposes. William Blair & Co. LLCL, Maxim Group LLC, H.C. Wainwright LLC and MLV & Co. LLC are acting as underwriters. Shares of Agenus (NASDAQ:AGEN) closed Wednesday at $2.72, down 18 cents.

Anergis SA, of Epalinges, Switzerland, said it closed its financing round totaling CHF8 million (US$8.9 million). The round was fully subscribed by existing investors and directors and was co-led by Sunstone Capital, Biomedinvest and Renaiisance PME/Vinci Capital. Anergis will use the proceeds to prepare for phase III development of its lead product, Allert, a vaccine designed to treat birch pollen allergy, and to advance two additional vaccine candidates against house dust mite and ragweed allergies. The company’s vaccines are based on its Continuous Overlapping Peptide technology.

Cytrx Corp., of Los Angeles, said it closed its underwritten public offering selling 13,225,000 shares at $6.50 per share, which includes the exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase an additional 1,725,000 shares. Gross proceeds were approximately $86 million. The company intends to use the net proceeds of the offering to fund clinical trials of its drug candidate aldoxorubicin and for general corporate purposes

Epizyme Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said it priced its public offering of about 4.5 million shares of common stock at $29.25, a barely negligible discount to Tuesday’s closing price of $30 per share. Epizyme is selling about 3 million shares for gross proceeds of $87.8 million. The remaining shares are being sold by existing stockholders, and Epizyme will not receive any of those proceeds. Underwriters have an option for an additional 673,901 additional shares at the public offering price. Epizyme intends to use the funds to support its share of development costs related to EPZ-5676, including the costs of the expansion stage of its ongoing phase I trial in acute leukemia patients with mixed lineage leukemia-rearranged (MLL-r) gene and MLL-partial tandem duplication and for a phase Ib trial of EPZ-5676 in MLL-r pediatric patients. Citigroup, Cowen and Co. LLC, Leerink Partners LLC, JMP Securities LLC, Wedbush Securities Inc. and BTIG LLC are acting as underwriters for the offering, which is expected to close on or about Feb. 10. Shares of Epizyme (NASDAQ:EPZM) closed Wednesday at $29.59, down 41 cents.

Geron Corp., of Menlo Park, Calif., said it closed its public offering of 22.5 million shares, plus 3.4 million shares of overallotments, priced at $4 apiece. Net proceeds to Geron are expected to be about $96.7 million and will be used to fund R&D, including the firm’s planned phase II trial of imetelstat in myelofibrosis, and for working capital and general corporate purposes. (See BioWorld Today, Jan. 31, 2014.)

Halozyme Therapeutics Inc., of San Diego, said it priced its underwritten public offering of 7,692,307 shares at $13 each. In addition, the company has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,153,846 shares of common stock.

Idera Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said it priced an underwritten public offering of 6,841,250 shares at $4 each, and pre-funded warrants to purchase up to an aggregate of 2,158,750 shares at the per share public offering price less $0.01 per share exercise price for each warrant. The gross proceeds from this offering are expected to be approximately $36 million. The company also has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,026,188 shares of common stock to cover over-allotments. The net proceeds from the offering will be used for the clinical development of toll-like receptor antagonists in their autoimmune disease and genetically defined B-cell lymphoma programs.

Intra-Cellular Therapies Inc., of New York, said it closed its underwritten public offering of 6,142,000 at $17.50 each. In addition, the underwriters exercised in full their option to purchase an additional 921,300 shares of common stock at the public offering price. The net proceeds of the offering were approximately $115.3 million.

Pernix Therapeutics Holdings Inc., of Houston, Texas, said Athyrium Capital Management has agreed to purchase $65 million aggregate principal amount of 8 percent convertible senior notes due 2019 providing expansion capital for the acquisition of accretive specialty products to be added to the company’s portfolio, as well as for working capital and general corporate purposes.

Sialix Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said it closed an oversubscribed $1.2 million tranche of an angel-led financing. Investors included members of New England-based angel investor groups such as Boston Harbor Angels, Mass Medic Angels, Launchpad Angels, Maine Angels and Beacon Angels, as well as Tucson, Ariz.-based Desert Angels. Sialix is developing therapeutic antibodies designed to target glycan alternations in cancer.

Tiltan Pharma Ltd., of Jerusalem, said it raised $1.5 million for the completion of its on-going phase II study of TL-118, an anti-angiogenic therapy for the treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer. Half of the patients already have been enrolled in the trial that is expected to include 80 patients with newly diagnosed metastatic pancreatic cancer that have not yet been treated with chemotherapy. The trial includes two treatment groups with 40 subjects each. The control group is allocated to standard chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer, and the treatment group receives TL-118 in addition to standard-of-care chemotherapy.