Aboleris Pharma has closed a €27.3 million (US$28.7 million) series A financing, funds it plans to put toward progressing into the clinic a monoclonal antibody against a novel T-cell target with “first-in-class potential” to treat rheumatoid arthritis. The Gosselies, Belgium-based company’s antibody, ABO-21009, is designed to “rebalance” the immune system by inhibiting CD45RC, a protein expressed on the surface of a subset of disease-causing T cells.
Although preclinical studies of genetically engineered interleukin-18 (IL-18) historically indicated its potential in cancer treatment, interest in the cytokine languished after GSK plc shelved its IL-18 therapeutic on lack of responses in a phase II melanoma trial. But in 2020, Yale University-based professor of immunobiology Aaron Ring set about reviving IL-18 as a cancer therapeutic. He went on to engineer a decoy-resistant form of IL-18 and then founded Simcha Therapeutics Inc. to develop the drug – named ST-067.
Magnet Biomedicine Inc. emerged from stealth mode and pulled down a $50 million series A round co-led by founding investor Newpath Partners alongside Arch Venture Partners. The firm is advancing molecular glue discovery by way of rational selection and design, looking past known protein-protein interactions and what Magnet calls “tangential” degradation approaches to analyze the broader protein landscape and ultimately pair targets with rationally chosen presenters in the tissue where the disease manifests.
“From one to many” is how Actio Biosciences Inc. describes its approach to drug development. The firm emerged with a $55 million series A financing and an eye for biological targets found in both rare and common diseases, starting with TRPV4, a target associated with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2C and other bone diseases.
As part of its quest to advance its three first-in-class heart failure drug candidates toward the clinic, Corteria Pharmaceuticals SAS has closed an oversubscribed €65 million (US$70.7 million) series A, co-led by investors Orbimed and Jeito Capital, companies based in the U.S. and Europe, respectively.
As a cytokine used in the field of immuno-oncology, interleukin-2 (IL-2) can produce durable and even complete responses in some patients, as well as induce immune memory against tumors. However, its rapid metabolism within the body means it has a short serum half-life, so it needs to be given in high doses, which can trigger severe side effects.
Emerging from stealth mode, new immuno-oncology company Dotbio Pte. Ltd. closed an oversubscribed $5.6 million pre-series A round to accelerate development of its multifunctional and intracellular antibody therapies.
When looking for a name, the founders of startup Nexo Therapeutics Inc., which recently emerged from stealth mode with a $60 million series A financing and a research collaboration with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, sought a moniker that truly captured its approach to drug development.
Newco Glycocore Pharma Srl is setting out to raise €10 million (US$11.2 million) in a series A round to take a novel approach to treating inflammatory respiratory diseases into the clinic, starting with a phase I/Ib trial in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
EG 427 SAS has added a further a further €5 million (US$5.6 million) to its series A, closing the round at €18 million and setting the stage for the first clinical trial of a gene therapy in the treatment of a chronic disorder.