A spin-out from the University of Oxford, UK, has raised £67 million from a Series A financing to advance clinical development of a new monoclonal antibody for treating essential thrombocythaemia (ET), a rare blood cancer. Alethio Therapeutics Ltd is building a portfolio of medicines to treat myeloproliferative neoplasms of which ET is one.
The financing will enable the company to advance its lead programme ATX-011, through completion of Phase 1/2a studies while also progressing additional myeloproliferative neoplasm programmes into clinical development. Alethio’s founders, Professors Adam Mead and Beth Psaila, are physician-scientists specialising in myeloproliferative neoplasms which occur when the body makes too many red blood cells, white blood cells or platelets.
ATX-011 targets G6B, a regulator of blood cell development, particularly bone marrow cells which produce platelets. According to the company, G6B is uniquely expressed on myeloproliferative neoplasm-initiating stem cells but not healthy stem cells. It is also expressed on megakaryocytes, located in the bone marrow, and platelets, the cells that drive thrombosis and its transformation to myelofibrosis. The goal is to normalise platelet counts in patients with ET by enhancing platelet clearance through binding to G6B.
Sofinnova Partners and RA Capital co-led the Series A round as new investors alongside the founding investor Oxford Science Enterprises. Graziano Seghezzi, managing partner at Sofinnova, said that “by targeting the cells that drive the disease [Alethio’s] approach has the potential to move patients beyond symptom management toward true disease modification.”
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