The new financing round was led by RA Capital Management, in tandem with new investors Redmile Group, Federated Hermes, Foresite Capital, ArrowMark Partners, PremjiInvest, and another unnamed investor from the health care space.
Adagio Therapeutics announced today it has completed a $336 million Series C financing round, which the company says will support the advancement of its lead coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) monoclonal antibody candidate ADG20.
The new financing round was led by RA Capital Management, in tandem with new investors Redmile Group, Federated Hermes, Foresite Capital, ArrowMark Partners, PremjiInvest, and another unnamed investor from the health care space.
Other existing investors that funneled funding into the new series C financing included Fidelity Management & Research Company, LLC, OrbiMed, Polaris Partners, Mithril, GV, Population Health Partners, Adimab, and Omega Funds.
In a statement made by Adagio, the company says it will continue to advance the development of ADG20 with help from the new financing. Currently, Adagio is developing the lead candidate as a single monotherapy agent for the treatment and prevention of COVID-19. The company says it also plans to develop ADG20 to fight other potential future coronaviruses.
Compared with other antibody treatments, ADG20 targets and neutralizes a broader range of sarbecoviruses, including the novel coronavirus and its associated variants. Preclinical data published in Cell showed ADG20 features a promising potency and completely negates SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19, including three concerning variants from Brazil, South Africa and the UK.
“The COVID-19 pandemic continues to be a major health crisis worldwide, and even with emergency use authorizations for vaccines and antibody-based therapies, there remains a significant need for medications to treat and prevent COVID-19 infection,” said Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Adagio, Tillman Gerngross, Ph.D., in a statement. “With the support of this sophisticated group of investors, we are properly capitalized to continue our expedited development and ultimate commercialization of ADG20 to benefit the many people at risk of COVID-19 mortality.”
The company recently launched a Phase I trial of ADG20 involving healthy volunteers. Additionally, Adagio initiated the pivotal Phase I/II/III STAMP trial, which investigates the use of ADG20 in high-risk patients with mild or moderate COVID-19. Adagio said the study was designed to advance ADG20 to proof-of-concept data. These data, if positive, will ultimately be used to support an Emergency Use Authorization submission. Adagio noted that it is also planning to launch a third trial in the second quarter of 2021, which will assess the efficacy of ADG20 for preventing symptomatic COVID-19.
“As we mapped out the vaccine and therapeutic landscape in the face of emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants, we recognized that the world is going to need the kind of convenient, potent and long-lived, broadly neutralizing antibodies that Adagio has developed,” said Peter Kolchinsky, Ph.D., Managing Partner of investment firm RA Capital. “We’ll not only need these antibodies to treat patients and keep them out of hospitals, but to passively vaccinate the millions of patients who don’t mount a strong enough response to available vaccines, allowing them to contribute to our herd immunity.”
That will take large-scale manufacturing, added Dr. Kolchinsky. “Beyond SARS-CoV-2, the technology could have applicability against future disease outbreaks, extending even to seasonal flu, which kills tens of thousands each year,” he said. “We think Adagio is positioned for both near-and long-term success with the potential to have a profound impact on global health. We are excited to support Adagio’s highly talented team and their innovative science in the fight against these respiratory viruses.”
