The German biotech Thursday said the proceeds from the Series B2 round will support clinical evaluation of its lead solid tumor antibody-drug conjugate candidates and expansion into the U.S.
Pictured: 3D rendering of antibody-drug conjugate molecules, with cytotoxic payload/iStock, Marcin Klapczynski
Cashing in on a hot antibody-drug conjugate market, German ADC-focused biotech Tubulis has capped off a €128 million ($138.8 million) Series B2 funding round, the company announced Thursday.
The round was led by EQT Life Sciences and Nextech Invest and had participation from Frazier Life Sciences and Deep Track Capital. Existing investors in the round included Andera Partners, BioMedPartners, Bayer Kapital, Fund+, Evotec, Seventure Partners, coparion, OCCIDENT and High-Tech Gründerfonds.
“Recent developments in oncology underscore the significant potential of ADCs for treating solid tumors. We are convinced that Tubulis will be at the forefront of this next wave of ADC therapeutics,” Kanishka Pothula, managing partner at Nextech Invest, said in a statement.
The proceeds from the Series B2 will support Tubulis’ pipeline of ADC candidates TUB-040 and Tub-030. The 040 candidate is a tumor-antigen Napi2b, aiming to treat ovarian and lung cancer, while the 030 candidate targets 5T4, an antigen prevalent in solid tumors.
Tubulis plans to show preclinical proof of data at the American Association for Cancer Research in April 2024 and will start its first Phase I/IIa trial sometime this year. The company has two other ADCs but their targets have not been disclosed.
The biotech also plans to use the cash to expand its technology platform to find new ADC targets as well as establish a U.S.-based subsidiary.
“This substantial financing from a syndicate of global specialist biotech investors recognizes Tubulis’ unique position in the ADC space. Our proprietary platform technologies and internal know-how are the foundation for our pipeline of truly differentiated protein-drug conjugates,” Tubulis CEO Dominik Schumacher said in a statement. “Our goal is to establish Tubulis as a global ADC leader as we transition into a clinical-stage company and harness the full power of ADCs to bring their therapeutic value to patients with solid tumors.”
Tubulis has been making inroads in the ADC market. In April 2023, the biotech formed a strategic license agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb to develop ADCs to treat solid tumors. In the deal, Tubulis netted a $22.75 million upfront payment and is eligible to receive over $1 billion in potential milestone payments.
The biotech was also mentioned as a “company to watch” by marketing intelligence company Evaluate in its February 2024 report on the ADC market.
Tubulis is one of many biotechs in the ADC market that is getting serious attention from investors. Seattle-based ProfoundBio raised a $112 million Series B last month to move four candidates forward. In the same month, Firefly Bio emerged with a $94 million Series A as it seeks to combine ADCs with protein degraders.
Tyler Patchen is a staff writer at BioSpace. You can reach him at tyler.patchen@biospace.com. Follow him on LinkedIn.
