On October 22, 2020 Araris Biotech AG, a company pioneering antibody-drug conjugate (ADC)-linker technology, reported it has received an additional CHF 12.7 million in seed financing, bringing the total amount raised to CHF 15.2 million (Press release, Araris Biotech, OCT 22, 2020, View Source [SID1234651278]).
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The investment round was led by Pureos Bioventures with participation from new investors 4BIO Capital, btov Partners and existing investors Redalpine, VI Partners and Schroder Adveq. The proceeds will be used to nominate a clinical candidate and advance Araris’ lead program into preclinical and clinical development. The new funds will also support the development of a broad proprietary pipeline of ADC compounds.
Philipp Spycher, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Araris, said, "We see this funding as strong validation of our company, lead programs and the Araris ADC-linker platform. We’re focused on using our unique linker technology, that allows development of ADCs without engineering the native antibody, to design better medicines for cancer. This capital will allow us to advance our lead program to the next stage of development and progress our preclinical pipeline towards the clinic. We are also pleased to further strengthen our investor base with such a distinguished group of investors, all of whom have a proven track record of supporting successful emerging companies."
Dragan Grabulovski, Ph.D. co-founder and founding chairman of Araris added, "The quality of the investors reflectsthe quality of the science, the product candidates and the entire team at Araris Biotech. I would like to welcome Dominik Escher, Dmitry Kuzmin, Michael Sidler and Arnd Kaltofen to the board of directors. Their experience and knowledge of the sector will be key to ensuring Araris’ continued success."
Dominik Escher, Ph.D., managing partner at Pureos, commented, "With this significant seed round, Araris is in an excellent position to advance its antibody-drug conjugates towards the clinic. Today, there are nine antibody-drug conjugates approved by the FDA but many of them cannot be dosed high enough to elicit efficacy due to systemic toxicity often caused by linker instability or heterogenous distributions of the payload. The Araris technology addresses these limitations and offers a novel and innovative approach to bring better therapies to patients in need."
Dmitry Kuzmin, Ph.D., managing partner at 4BIO Capital, said, "We are excited to be investing at this early stage of what we expect to be an extraordinary future for Araris. Its pioneering technology, enabling fast and precise production of ADCs, is highly innovative and we believe has huge potential to bring enhanced therapies to patients across the globe."