The Series B round was co-led by Redmile Group and Bain Capital Life Sciences.
It saw participation of new and existing investors including RA Capital Management, Samsara BioCapital, Sanofi Ventures, New Leaf Ventures, Pontifax, funds managed by Tekla Capital Management, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Mass General Brigham Ventures, Eurofarma, and Soleus Capital.
Abcuro CEO Alex Martin said: “Support from such a strong group of investors will allow us to complete our development programs in diseases where there are few to no treatment options available.
“We are very motivated by the patients we serve and are excited by the clinical data we’ve seen to date. We’re committed to executing on our clinical trials including our registrational trial in inclusion body myositis.”
The firm will use the proceeds from the Series B round to complete a Phase II/III registrational clinical trial analysing ABC008.
A first-in-class monoclonal antibody, ABC008 targets killer cell lectin like receptor G1 (KLRG1) to treat inclusion body myositis (IBM).
Furthermore, Abcuro will focus on finishing a Phase I/II clinical study of ABC008 in T cell large granular lymphocytic leukemia (T-LGLL) besides commencing a Phase I/II clinical trial in T and NK cell lymphomas.
Abcuro chief medical officer H. Jeffrey Wilkins said: “IBM, like other autoimmune diseases, is progressive and devastating for patients. Targeting the depletion of cytotoxic T cells that express KLRG1 with ABC008 is a novel approach that has generated exciting early data in patients with IBM.
“These data are also supportive of using ABC008 in other diseases like T-LGLL in which cytotoxic T cells are pathogenic, and mature T and NK cell lymphomas in which KLRG1 expressing cells are malignant. We look forward to further advancing these programmes in the clinic.”
Abcuro is engaged in developing therapies to treat autoimmune diseases and cancer through accurate modulation of cytotoxic T and NK cells.