Brussels-based Precirix, a platform developing radio-immunotherapeutic drugs for cancer patients, announced on Wednesday that it has raised €80M in its Series B round of funding. The round was led by new investors INKEF Capital, Jeito Capital, and Forbion as co-leads.
With this, Simone Botti, Partner at INKEF Capital, Sabine Dandiguian, Managing Partner at Jeito and Jasper Bos, General Partner at Forbion Growth will join Precirix’s Board of Directors.
The company’s existing investors Gimv, HealthCap, Novo Holdings, Pontifax Venture Capital, V-Bio Ventures, and BioMed Partners, as well as the Seed investors, also participated in the round.
Simone Botti, Partner at INKEF Capital, says, “Radiopharmaceuticals are showing great promise as therapies for difficult-to-treat cancers. Precirix’s innovative platform based on sdAb carriers has the potential to truly improve clinical outcomes for patients. We are excited to support Precirix on its continued progress advancing first in class targeted radiopharmaceuticals towards commercialisation.”
“Precision radiopharmaceuticals for cancer treatment”
Founded in 2014 by Matthias D’Huyvetter and Jens De Vos, and currently led by CEO Ruth Devenyns, Precirix is a private, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that spun-off from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
The company is committed to extending and improving the lives of cancer patients by developing precision radiopharmaceuticals using camelid-derived single-domain antibodies (sdAb) labelled with radioisotopes. These radioisotopes are carried by the treatments to receptors on tumours with the hope that they’ll kill cancers.
Precirix has a broad pipeline with one product candidate in Phase I/II clinical trial and two in the advanced preclinical stage. Research on multiple isotopes, linker technology and combination therapies further expand the platform.
Its lead product candidate, CAM-H2, is currently in a Phase I/II study for the treatment of HER2-positive metastatic breast and gastric cancer. Patients with tumours that overexpress HER2 can benefit from effective targeted treatments today, yet have a poor prognosis when cancer spreads. CAM-H2 aims to effectively irradiate cancer lesions while sparing healthy tissue, based on its unique technology platform that leverages the favourable tissue distribution of sdAbs.
Precirix’s technology also allows for a theranostic approach, using the same molecule for patient selection (imaging) and therapy.
Capital utilisation
Precirix claims that proceeds from this round will fund the development and expansion of its pipeline. More specifically, the company will advance CAM-H2 through its ongoing Phase I/II study and plans to bring additional novel radiopharmaceuticals to the clinic.
Precirix will also focus on further strengthening the platform, using its potential to generate new product candidates, linkers and CMC processes.
Ruth Devenyns, CEO of Precirix, says, “We are delighted to announce this major milestone and are grateful for the strong investor support. The addition of Inkef, Jeito and Forbion, three leading VC funds in the healthcare sector, significantly reinforces our international shareholder base. The investment will allow Precirix to accelerate its growth trajectory and to further validate and broaden the technology platform.”
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