Pharmaceutical Business review

Ambys raises funding to expand liver cell therapy production capabilities

Ambys will use the funds advance the cell therapy platform for liver diseases. Credit: Ed Uthman.

This brings the company’s total Series A funding raised to $107m.

The financing was led by Third Rock Ventures and saw participation from Smilegate Investment, Schroders Capital, Alexandria Venture Investments, Takeda, Laurion Capital, and other investors.

The funds will also allow the company to complete pre-IND activities.

Additionally, the proceeds will be used to advance Ambys’s investigational programme, AMI-918, an allogeneic liver-cell therapy that is being developed to manage acute liver disease.

According to the company, the liver-cell therapy is expected to provide life-extending solution to about 100,000 US patients per year, who are facing liver function crises.

Ambys Medicines CEO Ronald Park said: “Serious liver diseases affect tens of millions of people worldwide, with most patients experiencing severe, irreversible outcomes and a median overall survival of just two years.

“At Ambys, we’re working to redefine how severe liver diseases are treated, and we’ve made important progress over the last three years towards our goal.

“Importantly, we’ve presented data validating our ability to expand mature, fully functioning liver cells that maintain biological function and are core to our therapeutic approach.”

Furthermore, the company aims to begin Phase I/II trial for its AMI-918 programme in the second quarter of 2023.

The company is developing its lead programme, AMI-918, and future engineered hepatocyte cell treatments across the severe liver disease spectrum.

Viral infections, inherited diseases, cancer or other tumours can cause liver disease.