NEW YORK – Alentis Therapeutics on Thursday said it raised $105 million in a Series C financing led by Jeito Capital, Novo Holdings, and RA Capital Management.
The Basel, Switzerland-based firm's existing investors including BB Pureos Bioventures, Bpifrance's InnoBio 2 fund, and Schroders Capital also contributed funds.
Alentis will use the funds to develop its lead products including ALE.C04, a drug it is studying in Claudin-1 (CLDN1)-positive tumors. ALE.C04 is currently in preclinical phase, but the firm is hoping to file an investigational new drug application and move the drug into human trials.
The company will also use the raised money to advance its CLDN1 platform. Alentis is using the platform to explore CLDN1-targeting antibody-drug conjugates as well as other approaches such as bispecific antibodies. Alentis is also developing a CLDN1-targeted drug for organ fibrosis.
Concurrent with the funding, Naveed Siddiqi, senior partner at Novo Holdings, will join Alentis' board of directors. "We were encouraged by exciting emerging preclinical data in oncology and the potential of Claudin-1 targeted therapeutics to treat a wide range of cancers where Claudin-1 is highly expressed," Siddiqi said in a statement. "We are looking forward to supporting Alentis as it further advances its pipeline in the clinic with the proceeds of this round."