US-based cancer drug developer Adicet Bio closed an $80m series B round yesterday featuring consumer electronics producer Samsung, chemicals provider OCI and pharmaceutical companies Regeneron, Handok, Novartis and Johnson & Johnson.
The round included financial services firm SBI, real estate manager Consensus Business Group, aMoon, KB Investment, DSC Investment, OrbiMed and Pontifax.
Johnson & Johnson, Samsung, SBI, Novartis and OCI invested through subsidiaries Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Samsung Venture Investment Corporation, SBI JI Innovation Fund, Novartis Venture Fund and OCI Enterprises respectively.
Adicet is working on immune cell therapies to treat cancer, engineering gamma delta T cells in a bid to destroy cancer cells while leaving healthy cells intact. Gamma T cells home in on specific tissues, making them in theory more applicable to the task than alpha beta T cells.
Anil Singhal, Adicet’s president and CEO, said: “This financing will permit Adicet to continue to develop our proprietary technology, to enter the clinic in non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and to advance our solid tumour programs. We are gratified with the support of the investment community.”
Yair Schindel, aMoon’s co-founder and managing partner will join Adicet’s board of directors along with an unnamed representative from JJDC. RM Global Partners advised Adicet on the deal.
OrbiMed had previously led Adicet’s $51m series A round in 2016, investing together with Novartis Venture Fund and Pontifax.
