Equity investment in European biotechnology firms engaged in therapeutic discovery and development continued its downward slide during the third quarter. The total for the period, $1.106 billion, is down 39% on the second quarter of this year and down 41% on Q3 2021. The ongoing weakness of the public markets is the main driver of the trend. In Q3, listed firms raised little more than half of what they managed in Q1 of this year, while the IPO window remains firmly closed. At present, the sector is bumping along at investment levels last seen about five years ago.
A strong third quarter has pushed biopharma financings ahead of several pre-pandemic years, as follow-on offerings and private placements picked up the pace. IPOs and venture capital rounds dipped below prior quarters, but the overall amount raised so far this year has placed 2022 as the fifth best financing year among the last 10, ahead of both 2019 and 2017.
Araris Biotech AG has raised $24 million in a second round of funding, as it completes preparations to take its lead antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) into the clinic. The company continues to accumulate preclinical data indicating its novel linker technology makes for an improved therapeutic index compared to approved ADCs, and the lead product is expected to begin clinical development next year.
Covira Inc., a spinout from The University of Chicago, has closed its first dilutive funding via an oversubscribed $1.0 million seed round after raising $9.1 million of nondilutive funding.
Nested Therapeutics Inc. emerged from stealth, revealing $125 million in equity funding and plans to bring precision oncology to the next level by probing the genomics and structural biology of key cancer targets more deeply than before, in an ambitious bid to find new driver mutations, new druggable pockets, and new chemistry that will expand the current arsenal of targeted therapies.
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