Allogene Therapeutics, a US-based oncology treatment developer backed by pharmaceutical firm Pfizer, closed $120m in convertible note financing in an offering led by hedge fund sponsor Perceptive Advisors yesterday.
The offering also included Deerfield Management, Fidelity Management and Research, Franklin Templeton Investments, Jennison Associates, Surveyor Capital, VenBio Select Advisor, the University of California Office of the Chief Investment Officer and funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price.
Allogene is developing chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T) drugs engineered from cells taken from healthy donors, meaning cancer patients will be able to be treated without the need for personalised therapies based on their own cells.
The funding will support the progress a product pipeline that includes 16 preclinical CAR T cell drug targets. Allogene also has the US rights to a CAR T cell candidate known as UCART19, which it is developing in partnership with Servier, and which is in phase 1 clinical trials.
The company launched in April this year with $300m of series A funding from investors including Pfizer, which held a 25% stake following the close of the round, University of California’s Office of the Chief Investment Officer of the Regents, TPG, Vida Ventures and BellCo Capital.
David Chang, co-founder, president and chief executive of Allogene, said: “Our goal is to maintain our leadership in allogeneic CAR T therapy and be the first company to develop and commercialise an allogeneic CAR T product.
“This financing will help us accelerate the development of our broad portfolio and invest in world class technical operations to make potentially lifesaving cell therapies more readily accessible to patients.”