The German biotech Topas Therapeutics GmbH has raised €22 million in a Series B financing round to advance technology for inducing antigen-specific immune tolerance. The technology is thought to have application across a wide range of autoimmune diseases, allergies and a condition known as anti-drug antibodies where the body throws up resistance to the repeated administration of monoclonal antibodies.
Ireland-based Neuromod Devices Ltd has raised €10.5 million in a Series B financing round to to accelerate the European commercialisation of a device to treat tinnitus, a condition in which sufferers experience a ringing in the ears. The device is a bimodal neuromodulation treatment which has received a CE-mark in the EU and is being rolled out in Europe. The company also plans to target the US market with a particular focus on the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Evotec has acquired a new long-term strategic investor and received fresh funds from an existing shareholder to finance an expansion of its drug discovery portfolio and its geographical footprint in Europe and the US. The new investor is the Mubadala Investment Company PJSC, a sovereign wealth fund wholly owned by the government of Abu Dhabi. The existing investor is Novo Holdings A/S. Together they have purchased 11.5 million Evotec shares for €250 million, of which €200 represents the Mubadala investment and €50 million, the investment by Novo.
Vaccibody AS, a clinical-stage Norwegian biotech, has entered an exclusive licensing deal with Genentech to develop and commercialise a DNA vaccine equipped with neoepitopes specific to a patient’s tumour. The vaccine, VB10.NEO, is designed to induce an immune response that is tailored to the tumours. It has already generated data in several cancers in a Phase 1/2a study.
The Swiss-US health technology company Sophia Genetics SA has raised $110 million in a Series F financing round to expand its artificial intelligence service which analyses medical data for use by healthcare professionals. The proceeds will enable the company to develop the platform and expand its operations in the US and Asia.
The Series F round was led by aMoon, a venture fund based in Israel, and Hitachi Ventures, the venture arm of Hitachi Group. Existing investors, including Swisscom Ventures and Endeavour Vision Ltd, also participated.
A new fund for medical diagnostics has secured €50 million in capital from leading European institutions, including the European Investment Fund (EIP), an agency of the EU. The fund, Kurma Diagnostics 2, is being launched by Kurma Partners, a venture capital company based in Paris, France. It is expected to invest in about 15 companies specialising in molecular and digital diagnostic technologies.
Galecto Inc has raised $64 million in equity financing to prepare for a potential conditional approval of its lead product for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in the EU and to further advance its clinical-stage products for liver fibrosis and myelofibrosis.
ADC Therapeutics SA of Lausanne, Switzerland has priced an upsized US public offering of its common shares yielding gross proceeds of $204 million to support the commercialisation of an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) for diffuse large B cell lymphoma. The offering of six million shares was priced at $34 per share and will close on 28 September. In addition, certain existing shareholders have granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 900,000 additional common shares.
ADC Therapeutics is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Nordic Nanovector ASA has raised NOK 231 million ($25 million) in a private share placement to support Betalutin, an antibody radionuclide conjugate that is being developed for follicular lymphoma, a type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
The life science investor Medicxi Ventures (UK) LLP has created a new fund, supported by private equity, to accelerate the development of six biotech companies being held by Index Ventures Life VI, a Jersey-based venture capital fund set up by its former parent company Index Ventures. Medicxi announced the transaction on 22 September, saying it will enable the companies to reach the next stages of value creation. The companies were not identified.