Germany's Tubulis raises €308m for ADC pipeline
Dr Dominik Schumacher, Tubulis' co-founder and chief executive.
Munich-based antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) specialist Tubulis has raised an impressive €308 million ($358 million) to help fund clinical trials of its cancer therapies, led by ovarian cancer candidate TUB-040.
The Series C, led by Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, has been announced just ahead of a much-anticipated presentation of phase 1/2 results with NaPi2b-targeting TUB-040 in patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer (PROC) at the ESMO congress, which is due to start in Amsterdam on Friday.
In a statement, Tubulis said the cash injection will go towards expanding the clinical development of TUB-040 into earlier lines of therapy, as well as additional cancer indications such as lung adenocarcinomas, and to advance its early clinical-stage 5T4-directed ADC TUB-030 and preclinical programmes.
The biotech is preparing for the presentation of PROC data from the NAPISTAR 1-01 study at ESMO, although the results of a cohort involving patients with relapsed or refractory non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) aren't ready yet.
It is one of several biopharma companies looking at Napi2b drugs, although the class has already seen some setbacks, such as ADC Therapeutics' upifitamab rilsodotin, which failed to hit its objectives in the phase 1/2 UPLIFT trial in PROC. ADC is still looking at the target with a preclinical-stage project, while other developers, including Roche, Mersana Therapeutics, and ZymeWorks, have either abandoned or deprioritised their work in this category.
The third round, which was also supported by new investors Wellington Management and Ascenta Capital, as well as existing backers, comes after the biotech raised €188 million in a two-part Series B in 2022 and 2024 and a first round in 2020 that raised just under €11 million.
"This landmark financing round reflects the deep conviction these global healthcare investors have in Tubulis and the disruptive potential of our ADC platforms," said Dr Dominik Schumacher, Tubulis' co-founder and chief executive.
"With TUB-040 progressing in the clinic and first data to be shared in a late-breaking oral presentation at ESMO, we are ready to expand into earlier treatment lines, while continuing to innovate across our pipeline and technology platforms."
Tubulis has been built on a suite of technologies designed to make ADCs more stable, reducing the toxicity that can occur if, for example, the payload drug is released from the molecule before it reaches the site of a tumour.
The promise of its approach has attracted a $1 billion-plus multi-target partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb in 2023 and an alliance with Gilead Sciences focusing on one target, worth up to $415 million, which was signed last December.
