Agomab Therapeutics NV raised $40.5 million in a series B extension led by Pfizer Inc., which has also come on board as an adviser on the development of AGMB-129, Agomab’s candidate therapy for fibrostenotic Crohn’s disease. The new cash raises the series B total to $114 million.
Amounts raised through biopharma financings in the second quarter are down by 61% since last year and are at the lowest point since 2017. The same holds true when looking at the first half of the year. Each of the prior four years raised more than this year by the end of June, signifying that investors are backing up after an intensely robust financing environment following the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the feverish biopharma therapeutic and vaccine development that began in 2020.
Areteia Therapeutics Inc. has launched to put its lead candidate, dexpramipexole, an oral treatment for eosinophilic asthma, through a phase III trial. Areteia was created by Knopp Biosciences LLC, which has put the small-molecule eosinophil maturation inhibitor through a phase II study, and also by Population Health Partners. Areteia has both the development and commercial rights to dexpramipexole.
Helixon Ltd. raised ¥500 million (US$75 million) in a series A round for its artificial intelligence (AI) drug development platform. The Beijing-based company is building a next-generation AI computing platform by combining it with self-developed high-throughput experimental technologies, aiming to provide drug developers with an intelligent system for molecular computation, simulation and design.