The latest round of funding for Seattle-based ProfoundBio will go towards advancing its one preclinical and three clinical antibody-drug conjugate candidates.
Pictured: 3D rendering of antibody-drug conjugate/iStock, Love Employee
ProfoundBio announced Tuesday that it has raked in $112 million in a Series B round to push several antibody-drug conjugate candidates forward.
The Series B funding, which the Seattle-based biotech said was oversubscribed, plans to accelerate the development of four antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) in its portfolio. These include Rina-S, a folate receptor-alpha-targeted ADC in Phase II for endometrial and ovarian cancers.
ProfoundBio noted that pivotal studies in ovarian cancer are planned for later this year. The company expects Phase I results from PRO1160 and its CD70 ADC in 2024. A protein tyrosine kinase 7 ADC, PRO1107, which is in Phase I is expected to have its results in 2025, while PRO1286, a bi-specific ADC, will go into the clinic later this year.
CEO Baiteng Zhao said in a statement that the funding will now put the company in a better position to advance its clinical trial and “offer new differentiated approaches.” ProfoundBio announced earlier this month that it started the dosing for a Phase I/II for PRO1107.
The Series B funding round was led by Ally Bridge Group and had new investors, including Nextech Invest, RA Capital Management, OrbiMed, Janus Henderson Investors, Surveyor Capital, Logos Capital, Octagon Capital, Piper Heartland Healthcare Capital and LifeSci Venture Partners. The round also had participation from LYFE Capital and Lilly Asia Ventures.
“We are excited to welcome this premier group of life science investors. Their commitment is a testament to our progress and our mission to develop innovative ADCs with the potential for improved clinical outcomes for patients,” ProfoundBio CFO and COO Erin Lavelle said in a statement.
“This investment boosts our momentum, especially with three clinical-stage candidates in our portfolio and another poised for clinical trials in the next few months. It’s a pivotal step in enabling significant milestones and delivering key data readouts this year and through 2025,” Lavelle added.
ProfoundBio’s push into the ADC space comes amid increasing investment in the technology from large pharma companies. In recent months, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, GSK, and AbbVie announced or closed major deals to acquire biotechs that were developing or already had ADCs on the market.
Last month, startup OnCusp Therapeutics secured a $100 million Series A with an ADC asset designed to target solid tumors.
Tyler Patchen is a staff writer at BioSpace. You can reach him at tyler.patchen@biospace.com. Follow him on LinkedIn.
