CatalYm Announces New Financing of $150M to Support Broad Phase 2b Development Program for Visugromab
16 July 2024 - 7:00PM
Business Wire
- Proceeds will expand visugromab’s late-stage clinical
development into earlier lines of treatment including checkpoint
naïve and second-line settings in randomized, controlled studies in
select solid tumor indications
- Round brings on board new international biotech investors,
Canaan Partners, Bioqube Ventures, Omega Funds, Forbion Growth Fund
and Gilde Healthcare to support direct path towards registration
for visugromab
CatalYm today announced the completion of a $150 million Series
D financing. The oversubscribed round was led by new investors,
Canaan Partners and Bioqube Ventures, and joined by Forbion's
Growth Opportunities Fund (“Forbion Growth”), Omega Funds and Gilde
Healthcare. Existing investors Jeito Capital, Brandon Capital
Partners, Novartis Venture Fund and Vesalius Biocapital III also
participated in the round. The proceeds will fund the expansion of
the company’s broad Phase 2b development of visugromab into
randomized Phase 2b studies in select checkpoint naïve frontline
and second-line treatment settings. Visugromab has already
demonstrated outstanding anti-tumor activity in combination with
checkpoint inhibitor treatment.
Visugromab is a humanized monoclonal antibody engineered to
neutralize the tumor-produced Growth Differentiation Factor-15
(GDF-15), which acts as a key regulator of immune resistance to
cancer therapies. CatalYm recently reported impressive follow-up
results from its ongoing “GDFATHER” Phase 1/2a trial (GDF-15
Antibody-mediaTed Human Effector Cell
Relocation Phase 1/2a) (NCT04725474) in an oral presentation
at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting
2024 in Chicago. The data showed that treatment with visugromab
combined with the anti-PD-1 antibody, nivolumab achieves deep and
durable anti-tumoral activity, including several complete responses
in anti-PD-1/PD-L1 relapsed/refractory patients with non-small cell
lung cancer (NSCLC), urothelial cancer (UC) or hepatocellular
carcinoma (HCC).
“This substantial raise and strong syndicate recognize our
achievements as a company and emphasize the excellent results of
visugromab and our broad Phase 2b clinical program. We continue to
demonstrate visugromab’s potential to induce cancer remission depth
and durability across multiple solid tumor indications emphasizing
the substantial role visugromab could play in a novel anti-cancer
therapy regimen,” said Phil L’Huillier, Managing Director and
Chief Executive Officer at CatalYm. “We are building
significant momentum for CatalYm’s development strategy and look
forward to the support of these high-profile new and existing
international investors, who share our vision of breaking
immunosuppressive barriers to improve therapeutic outcomes.”
In conjunction with the close of the financing, Colleen Cuffaro,
Partner at Canaan, Jon Edwards, Managing Partner at Bioqube
Ventures and Otello Stampacchia, Managing Director and Founder at
Omega Funds, will join the CatalYm Board of Directors. Stefan Luzi,
Partner at Gilde Healthcare will join as Board Observer.
“The recent data presented at ASCO highlight visugromab’s highly
differentiated therapeutic profile and validate the ability of Phil
and his team to expeditiously execute on the company’s clinical
plan,” commented Colleen Cuffaro, Partner at Canaan
Partners. “As the company advances into expanded Phase 2b
development, we are excited to provide our strategic guidance on
the company’s trajectory toward changing the current treatment
regimens for hard-to-treat solid tumor indications.”
Jon Edwards, Managing Partner at Bioqube Ventures added:
“We were initially drawn to the exciting biology around GDF-15 and
found CatalYm to be at the forefront of the field. We believe this
approach has the potential to significantly increase durability and
deepen responses, unlocking the full potential of I/O treatments.
We are excited to support this fantastic team, and syndicate, in
running robust clinical studies in a variety of promising
indications.”
Founded in 2016 with support from Forbion Ventures Fund III and
BGV, CatalYm is a leader in the development of a new class of
cancer treatments aiming to prevent or reverse cancer resistance to
checkpoint inhibition, chemotherapy and other targeted treatments.
The approach neutralizes GDF-15, a critical immunosuppressant used
by tumor cells to survive. With its broad Phase 2b development
plan, the company targets high-need solid tumor indications
including NSCLC, UC, HCC and bladder cancer where existing and
acquired resistance are a major problem. CatalYm is now in
preparations to launch further randomized, controlled studies in
several major cancer indications in combination with checkpoint
inhibitors and standard-of-care in first- and second-line treatment
in the first half of 2025.
About CatalYm
CatalYm has identified GDF-15 as a key cancer therapy resistance
mechanism and is developing it as safe and efficacious immune
therapy for solid tumors. GDF-15, an immunosuppressant important
for feto-maternal tolerance, is hijacked by cancer cells to evade
immune system attack. Visugromab, CatalYm’s lead antibody, has
demonstrated durable anti-tumor efficacy with long-lasting
objective responses in relapsed and refractory metastatic solid
tumor patients in combination with anti-PD-1 treatment. CatalYm is
now advancing to Phase 2b studies to confirm visugromab as a new
class of cancer immunotherapy in a broad range of anti-cancer
regimens.
About Visugromab (CTL-002)
Visugromab is a monoclonal antibody that neutralizes the
tumor-derived Growth Differentiation Factor-15 (GDF-15), a locally
acting immunosuppressant fostering immunotherapy resistance.
Neutralizing GDF-15 with visugromab reverses key cancer resistance
mechanisms to reinstate an efficient anti-tumor response by
reenabling immune cell activation and tumor infiltration.
Visugromab has demonstrated a good safety profile and potent and
durable anti-tumor efficacy in combination with anti-PD-1 treatment
in advanced cancer patients. The antibody is currently being
investigated in ongoing Phase 2a studies in multiple solid tumor
indications.
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CatalYm GmbH Dr. Phil L’Huillier, CEO info@catalym.com
Media Inquiries Trophic Communications Dr. Stephanie May
Phone: +49 171 185 56 82 catalym@trophic.eu