Boehringer Ingelheim and Helsinn helped University of Geneva vaccine spinout Amal reach the second close of a series B round that now totals $32.7m.
Amal Therapeutics, a Switzerland-based biotechnology spinout from University of Geneva, extended a series B round co-led by pharmaceutical firms Boehringer Ingelheim and Helsinn to over €29m ($32.7m) on Monday.
Corporate venturing units Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund and Helsinn Investment Fund co-led the round with venture capital firm BioMedPartners, investing alongside High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), VI Partners and Schroder Adveq, which forms part of investment manager Schroders.
The extension came in the form of a $23.9m second tranche that was added to the $9m provided by the same syndicate of investors in September 2017.
Amal is developing peptide-based therapeutic cancer vaccines using its Kisima technology platform which are intended to provide long-lasting anti-tumour immunity. The company’s lead candidate, ATP128, is a vaccine for colorectal cancer.
The series B capital will be used to progress ATP128 toward clinical development and the proof-of-concept stage, with a clinical trial for the candidate expected to start in mid-2019. Amal will also use a portion of the funds to further develop the Kisima platform.
The round adds to the $3.1m Amal collected in an April 2016 series A round led by Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, with participation from HTGF, VI Partners and the German government-owned development bank KfW.
HTGF and Boehringer Ingelheim were early investors in the company, having injected an undisclosed amount in seed funding in 2014.
Primary reporting by Jack Hammond.
