IP Group is among the investors backing the DDR cancer therapeutics developer’s latest round, which took its total funding to $320m.

Artios Pharma, a UK-based cancer therapy developer, secured $153m in a series C round on Tuesday from investors including commercialisation firm IP Group.
Investment firms Omega Funds and TCG Crossover co-led the round, which included the corporate venture capital units of pharmaceutical firms Merck Group, Novartis and Pfizer – M Ventures, Novartis Venture Fund and Pfizer Ventures.
Avidity Partners, Invus, Deep Track Capital, Sofinnova Partners, Tetragon Financial Group, RTW Investments, Soleus Capital, Piper Heartland Healthcare Capital, CaaS Capital Management, Schroders Capital, Arix Bioscience, SV Health Investors, Andera Partners and LSP (Life Sciences Partners) filled out the investor line-up.
Artios is developing cancer treatments that are designed to prevent DNA damage response (DDR) activity, a mechanism that helps tumours mutate and become resistant to drugs.
The company said its funding stands at $320m since it was founded in 2016.
IP Group had already contributed to an $84m series B round for Artios in 2018 alongside AbbVie Ventures, a subsidiary of pharmaceutical group AbbVie, M Ventures, Novartis Venture Fund, Pfizer Ventures, Arix Bioscience and SV Health Investors.
Andera Partners and LSP co-led the series B round, which followed a $36m series A in 2016. The series A was led by SV Health Investors and featured Touchstone Innovations, now part of IP Group, as well as AbbVie Ventures, M Ventures, Arix Biosciencs and CRT Pioneer Fund.
– A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.

Edison Fu

Edison Fu is head of Asia development at Global Corporate Venturing.