Spun out of University of Duisburg-Essen and University of Düsseldorf, Abalos has raised funding to kickstart development of arenavirus-based immunotherapies.
Abalos Therapeutics, a Germany-based cancer immunotherapy spinout of University of Duisburg-Essen and University of Düsseldorf, launched yesterday with €12m ($13.3m) of series A capital from investors co-led by pharmaceutical firm Boehringer Ingelheim.
Venture capital fund Gründerfonds Ruhr co-led the round, which also included public-private partnership High-Tech Gründerfonds and NRW.Bank, the state development bank of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Boehringer Ingelheim invested through its corporate venturing subsidiary, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund.
Abalos is developing cancer immunotherapies, leveraging its Fast Evolution platform, that employ a specific arenavirus strain thought to provoke anti-tumour immune responses by selectively infecting and thriving within cancerous cells.
The spinout extends collaborative research undertaken by Karl Lang, chair of immunology at University of Duisburg-Essen’s Medical Faculty, and Philipp Lang, director of the Department of Molecular Medicine II at University of Düsseldorf.
The capital will support Abalos as it commences operations and prepares its lead assets for clinical-stage development.
Marcus Kostka, partner at Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, will lead the spinout as chief executive, and representatives from all four series A investors will be added to its newly-created supervisory board.
Abalos has also selected Jörg Vollmer as its chief scientific officer, on the back of his performance in the same role at University of Bonn’s immuno-oncology developer Rigontec leading up to its acquisition by drug maker Merck & Co in 2017.
Kostka said: “Abalos’ goal is to capture the potent immune activation and highly specific tumour tropism of the arenavirus to propel a differentiated immuno-oncology approach towards clinical evaluation.
“After funding and supporting a range of biotechnology companies over the years, this promising technology and the chance to build a company with Jörg as a highly-experienced immunology expert made this opportunity extremely attractive.”
