Affimed Therapeutics AG raised EUR25 million (US$33.4 million) in a Series B round of financing.
The Heidelberg, Germany, company is developing recombinant antibody products based on its TandAb tetravalent antibody format. Funds will be used to advance its two lead programs, a TandAb for the treatment of Hodgkin's disease and another for the treatment of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Affimed also plans to advance additional preclinical antibody programs in various oncology and anti-inflammatory indications.
This financing round was led by a syndicate of new investors from both the U.S. and Europe, including BioMedInvest, OrbiMed Advisors LLC and Life Sciences Partners, as well as existing investor firstVentury.
"Attracting these top-tier international investors represents a strong validation of Affimed's unique and highly versatile alternative approach to conventional antibody technologies, as well as its advanced product pipeline," Affimed CEO Rolf Gunther said. "We are now in an excellent position to advance the clinical development of our lead antibodies into Phase II for the treatment of cancer."
In other financing news:
• Protemix Corp. Ltd., of Auckland, New Zealand, and San Diego, raised $14.5 million in the first close of a Series A preferred financing round. The round was co-led by new investors the Novartis Venture Fund and NovaQuest, along with the previous major investor group led by Birnie Capital Ltd. Funds will be used to advance development of Protemix's lead product, PX811019, a potential treatment for diabetic heart failure for which Phase II trials are planned to begin this quarter in the U.S. Funds also will support continued preclinical development of PX811013, a novel form of the glycoprotein hormone adiponectin, and earlier-stage programs. Initial studies of the oral agent PX811019 showed a significant decline in left ventricular mass toward normal along with elevated copper excretion in Type II diabetics. It also has shown other cardiovascular benefits.
• Meditrina Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Ann Arbor, Mich., secured $4.4 million in initial funding from the 21st Century Jobs Fund administered by the Michigan Economic Development Corp. and from the Biosciences Research and Commercialization Center at Western Michigan University. The company also said it began a Phase II trial of its lead product candidate, Femathina (MPI-674), an aromatase inhibitor Meditrina is repurposing for the treatment of several women's health conditions. Among those conditions is endometrial thinning prior to endometrial ablations in premenopausal women with abnormal uterine bleeding. The placebo-controlled study in the U.S. will evaluate the appropriate time during the menstrual cycle in which to initiate dosing in to either induce or maintain a thin endometrium.
• GenVault Corp., of Carlsbad, Calif., raised $18 million in a venture capital financing round. QuestMark Partners joined Domain Associates as an investor in GenVault, which focuses on room-temperature biosample management. Funds will be used to accelerate commercialization of GenVault technologies in room-temperature biosample storage and transport for genomic discovery, health care and forensic applications.
• Pluristem Life Systems Inc., of New York, said it raised $1.1 million from the exercise of about 15 million warrants at $0.075 each, more than 25 percent of the warrants that were outstanding on March 30. The company is developing cell therapy products for various indications. Pluristem plans to start trials this year of its lead product, PLX-I, which is being developed to be an efficient and superior alternative to the standard procedure of bone marrow transplantation.
