Alentis raised $105 million for the claudin platform
Alentis Therapeutics is a clinical stage biotechnology developing treatments for organ fibrosis and claudin-1 (CLDN1) positive tumors.
The company has announced $105 million in Series C financing. The funding round was led by Jeito Capital, Novo Holdings A/S and RA Capital Management with participation from existing investors including BB Pureos Bioventures, Bpifrance through fund InnoBio 2 and Schroders Capital.
This financing will support the phase II and phase I programs of the Alentis ALE.F02 and ALE.C04 primary investigation products and the development of the CLDN1 platform.
Alentis pioneered a novel approach to modifying and reversing the course of disease progression targeting CLDN1, a previously unexploited target that plays a key role in immune-evasive tumor pathology and fibrotic disease in multiple organs. CLDN1 is a protein coding gene.
Roberto Iacone, CEO at Alentis Therapeutics, said: “There is a huge unmet need in organ fibrosis and cancer, and this funding allows us to continue the important work we are doing in the CLDN1 space and generate clinical data from both of our programs. We can now aggressively advance CLDN1 biology in oncology and continue our recruitment of organ fibrosis trials while advancing our ADC and bi-specific antibodies.”
Alentis Therapeutics generates meaningful data
Jeito Capital Founder and CEO Rafaèle Tordjman said: “We are very confident about the biological potential of CLDN1 in various areas of fibrosis and oncology. Alentis has made significant progress identifying target populations while developing programs and advancing platforms. We are committed to continuing our partnership with Alentis as they are a leading player in the CLDN1 space and are well positioned to generate meaningful clinical data in the next 12 to 18 months.”
Since its $67 million Series B funding in June 2021, completion of the company’s ALE.F02 study is imminent; it has defined a CLDN1+ cancer patient population, including cancers that are T-cell excluded from developing ALE.C04 in oncology; setting up a platform to engineer CLDN1 antibody drug conjugates and bispecific antibodies that Series C will help to further develop; and expanding his team.
Earlier this year, Alentis announced positive results from a single incremental dose phase 1 study of its flagship program, ALE.F02, which is currently in development for the treatment of advanced renal, lung, and liver fibrosis.
Alentis is headquartered in the Basel pharmaceutical-biotech center in Switzerland with an R&D subsidiary in Strasbourg, France, and clinical operations in the US
