Alpha-9's $175m third-round heads latest biotech financings

Radiopharma start-up Alpha-9 Oncology has closed a sizeable third investment round, heading a list of recent financings that also feature Axonis, Kivu Bio, SynOx, Agomab, and Blue Earth Therapeutics.

Alpha-9 Oncology raked in $175 million in a Series C led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Ascenta Capital that will fund the transition of its pipeline of radiopharmaceutical candidates for cancer into clinical testing.

For now, details of that pipeline remain under wraps, but include candidates for multiple cancer types with "first-in-class and best-in-class potential," according to a statement on the financing from the Boston and Vancouver-based biotech. Some of the cash will also be used to expand R&D and build manufacturing capabilities.

Other new investors included General Catalyst, a16z Bio + Health, RA Capital Management, Janus Henderson Investors, Delos Capital, Digitalis Ventures, Lumira Ventures, and a healthcare fund managed by abrdn Inc.

Axonis Therapeutics raised $115 million in first-round financing that will help it bring a small-molecule drug candidate for neuropathic pain into a phase 1 trial, which is due to get underway before the end of the year, and through proof-of-concept testing.

The Boston company's lead compound, codenamed AXN-027, is described as an oral potentiator of KCC2 that is designed to restore GABA signalling in people with chronic pain, spinal cord injuries, and epilepsy. Axonis is pitching the drug as a potential first-in-class candidate.

Cormorant Asset Management and venBio Partners co-led the financing with further backing from Sofinnova Investments, MRL Ventures Fund, Perceptive Advisors, Lumira Ventures, and Solasta Ventures.

Novo Holdings led a $92 million Series A investment in Kivu Biosciences, a San Francisco biotech focusing on the development of antibody-drug conjugates for solid tumours.

Like other ADC start-ups, Kivu is working on technologies that allow more stable candidates to be produced that reduce off-target side effects, potentially improve efficacy, and are easier to manufacture. All its programmes are currently in preclinical development and the company said the new funding will allow it to take multiple candidates into the clinic.

Gimv, Red Tree Venture Capital, and HealthCap, as well as existing investors BioGeneration Ventures, M Ventures, and Brabantse Ontwikkelings Maatschappij, also participated in the round.

Dublin, Ireland-headquartered SynOx Therapeutics has added another $17 million to its Series B, taking the tally to $92 million, as it takes its drug for rare disease tenosynovial giant cell tumour (TGCT) into phase 3 testing.

The first patients have now been dosed in the pivotal TANGENT study of emactuzumab, SynOx's anti-CSF-1 antibody, which is designed to target and deplete immune cells, including macrophages that are overproduced in TGCT. The disorder affects the joints and leads to pain, swelling, stiffness, and limited range of motion.

The top-up round was led by new investor Gilde Healthcare whose general partner, Arthur Franken, has taken a seat on SynOx's board.

Belgium's Agomab Therapeutics raised $89 million in fourth-round financing that will help it to complete a phase 2a trial of lead drug AGMB-129 in patients with fibrostenosing Crohn's disease, a severe form that often requires endoscopic treatments or surgery.

Results from the STENOVA trial of AGMB-129, a gut-restricted oral small molecule inhibitor of ALK5, are due early next year. Meanwhile, Agomab will also use some of the proceeds for further development of its inhaled ALK5 candidate AGMB-447 for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, in phase 1, and to prepare clinical trials of MET agonist AGMB-101, which is being developed for liver cirrhosis.

New investors Sanofi and Invus joined the round, along with current backers, according to the company. The company raised $100 million in a Series C a year ago.

Finally, UK radiopharma start-up Blue Earth Therapeutics completed a $76.5 million Series A, co-led by Soleus Capital and Sands Capital Management and supported by seed investor Bracco Imaging, Woodline Partners, PBM Capital, and other institutional backers.

Oxford-based Blue Earth is developing a pair of radioligand therapeutics (RLTs) for prostate cancer, which both target PSMA - making them potential rivals to Novartis' already approved Pluvicto (lutetium [Lu177] vipivotide tetraxetan).

One of the candidates is a Lu177-based beta emitter like Pluvicto, while the other uses actinium (Ac225Ac) as an alpha emitter, both carried by the company's "radiohybrid" backbone rhPSMA-10.1 which was developed by researchers at the Technical University of Munich in Germany. The new funding will be used to complete a phase 1 study and support a phase 2 programme.

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash