Amal Therapeutics, a Switzerland-based cancer-focused biotechnology spinout from University of Geneva, has raised SFr8.8m ($9.6m) in a series B round co-led by pharmaceutical firm Boehringer Ingelheim.
The corporate, which participated through its corporate venturing division Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, co-led the round with Helsinn Investment Fund, the strategic investment arm of pharmaceutical firm Helsinn, and BioMedPartners.
German public-private partnership High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) also took part in the round, as did VI Partners and Schroder Adveq.
The funding constitutes a first tranche of the series B round, though the spinout did not reveal a target size for the final close.
Founded in 2012, Amal Therapeutics is working on treatments, through its Kisima platform, that provides long-lasting anti-tumour immunity. The company’s lead candidate, ATP128, is a vaccine for colorectal cancer.
The spinout will use the series B funding to advance ATP128 towards clinical trials and proof-of-concept studies. It will also continue development of Kisima.
Erwin Boos of Schroder Adveq has joined the board as an observer, while Hanna Kleczkowska from Helsinn Investment Fund and Andreas Wallnöfer from BioMedPartners have become members of the supervisory board.
Amal previously raised $3.1m in a series A round in April 2016 led by Boehringer Ingelheim, with participation from HTGF, German government-owned development bank KfW and VI Partners.
HTGF and Boehringer Ingelheim had earlier injected an undisclosed amount in seed funding in 2014.
– This article first appeared on our sister site Global University Venturing.