Normunity Inc. emerged from stealth by unveiling $65 million in series A funding and bold plans to tackle one of the critical issues in immuno-oncology. Normunity is based on the research of scientific founder Lieping Chen, of Yale School of Medicine, an early immuno-oncology pioneer who identified and characterized the gene encoding PD-L1 (then called B7-H1) and shortly afterward reporting additional findings that contributed to its recognition as an important target in cancer immunotherapy.

Mablink Bioscience SAS raised €31 million (US$30.3 million) in a series A funding round and set its sights on a phase I trial of its lead next-generation antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), MBK-103, which is in development for a range of solid tumor indications. Sofinnova Partners and Mérieux Equity Partners co-led the round.

Sibylla Biotech Srl raised €23 million (US$22.9 million) in series A funding to progress its two lead programs in targeted protein degradation, to broaden its pipeline, and to enhance its computationally intensive discovery platform. The company is expanding the druggable proteome in a highly original fashion. It applies mathematical techniques originally developed in theoretical physics to simulating the intermediate folding states of target proteins that have no obvious drug-binding pockets. These may well have transient structures that a small molecule can bind. So instead of drugging the native, biologically active molecule, it aims to develop small-molecule drugs that lock them into an intermediate state. They are then eliminated by the usual protein degradation pathways that operate within cells.