Kooksoondang Brewery's GN Tech Venture was among the investors in an $18.9m round that took the anti-tumour therapy developer's total funding to $27.7m.
South Korea-based biopharmaceutical company Eutilex closed a ₩21bn ($18.9m) series A round on Thursday that featured GN Tech Venture, a subsidiary of alcoholic beverage group Kooksoondang Brewery.
Investment adviser DS Asset Management, venture capital and private equity firm Kolon Investment and SNU Bio Angel also took part in the round, which Eutilex said increased its overall funding to $27.7m.
Founded in 2015, Eutilex is developing anti-tumour T cell and antibody treatments for cancers and autoimmune diseases.
The company’s lead product candidate is 4-1BB CTL, a T cell therapy that has completed phase 1 clinical trials and is set to enter phase 2 trials soon. It also has three monoclonal antibody treatments in its pipeline.
Byoung S. Kwon, founder and chief executive of Eutilex, said: “Some of the best known investors in Asia stepped up in what is a testament to the potential of our immuno-oncology programs.
“We have seen compelling results both in terms of safety profile as well as first proof of efficacy in humans in our phase 1 clinical trials for our adoptive T cell therapy technology. Our immunomodulatory antibodies have also demonstrated safety and efficacy in humanised oncology models.”
