The Bay Area–based biotech plans to use the funds to advance two lead programs, one to treat atopic dermatitis and another for immune-mediated diseases.
Bay Area–based Attovia Therapeutics announced Thursday it has secured a $105 million Series B as it looks to advance assets in the hot immunology and inflammation space.
According to biotech entrepreneur Andrew Pannu, the immunology and inflammation (I&I) sector saw $12.3 billion in therapeutic M&A activity last year and would continue to be attractive to investors. In addition, I&I biotech Apogee Therapeutics closed an upsized public offering in March, netting around $483 million.
According to Attovia, the newly acquired funds will be used to advance its lead programs, ATTO-1310 and ATTO-002, through initial clinical data readouts. The biotech describes these candidates as “Attobodies,” bispecific antibodies that use a proprietary spatial positioning technology that can bind to two different epitopes on a target molecule.
ATTO-1310 is a potential first-in-class, long half-life anti-IL31 Attobody that aims to treat atopic dermatitis and other pruritic diseases. The asset is currently in the IND-enabling stage and plans to enter clinical trials by the end of 2024. ATTO-002 is an anti-IL31 x IL13 Attobody intended to treat immune-mediated diseases. The biotech plans to advance ATTO-002 to an IND, for an as-yet undetermined indication, in 2025.
The company also plans to use the Series B funds to build its pipeline further and develop the Attobody platform, which Attovia describes as ideal for going after hard-to-drug targets.
“The strong investor interest and timing of this financing underscore the rapid progress we made with Attovia’s differentiated pipeline since the company inception, and the unique potential of our proprietary platform to develop attractive, next-generation immunology product candidates,” Attovia CEO Tao Fu said in a statement.
The Series B round was led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives and had participation from new investors such as Cormorant Asset Management and Nextech Venures. Existing investors participating in the round included Illumina Ventures, Frazier Life Sciences and venBio. Attovia was launched by Frazier Life Sciences and Alamar Biosciences in June last year, with Frazier also leading the biotech’s $60 million Series A.
Tyler Patchen is a staff writer at BioSpace. You can reach him at tyler.patchen@biospace.com. Follow him on LinkedIn.
