Alector, a US-based biotechnology developer focused on neurodegenerative diseases, secured $133m in series E funding yesterday from investors including GV, a corporate venturing vehicle for technology and internet conglomerate Alphabet.
Pharmaceutical companies AbbVie, Eli Lilly, Merck & Co and Amgen participated in the round through respective subsidiaries AbbVie Ventures, Lilly Asia Ventures, MRL Ventures and Amgen Ventures.
Dementia Discovery Fund, Deerfield Management, Federated Kaufmann Fund, Section 32, Euclidean Capital, Foresite Capital, New Leaf Venture Partners, Perceptive Advisors, Casdin Capital, Polaris Partners, OrbiMed, Mission Bay Capital and several unnamed backers also invested.
Founded in 2013, Alector is working on drugs that exploit the immune system to prevent the onset of neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s and frontotemporal dementia (FTD), which causes symptoms such as loss of language.
The company’s pipeline includes AL001, which targets FTD; AL002, aimed at halting Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions; and AL003, which is expected to prevent Alzheimer’s disease in certain patients.
The series E capital will enable Alector to advance its clinical programs and expand its drug discovery platform. It also hopes to move into developing treatments for cancer.
Alector has raised $195m in funding to date, most recently securing $29.5m in a series D round led by Dementia Discovery Fund in 2016, with participation from Amgen, GV, MRL Ventures, AbbVie Ventures, OrbiMed, Polaris, Topspin and Mission Bay.
MRL Ventures had already led the company’s $32m series C round in 2015, with contributions from GV, OrbiMed, Polaris, Topspin Partners, Mission Bay and undisclosed additional investors.
Janssen, a pharmaceutical subsidiary of healthcare group Johnson & Johnson, provided an undisclosed amount for Alector as part of a 2014 research agreement to explore the development of a treatment for Alzheimer’s.