UK-based cancer-focused biotechnology developer Artios Pharma closed an oversubscribed £65m ($83m) series B round today that included corporate venturing vehicles Pfizer Ventures, Novartis Venture Fund, M Ventures and AbbVie Ventures.
The units, subsidiaries of pharmaceutical firms Pfizer, Novartis, Merck Group and AbbVie, joined investment firms Andera Partners and LSP, which co-led the round, commercialisation firm IP Group and venture capital firms Arix Bioscience and SV Health Investors.
Founded in 2016, Artios is working on cancer therapies that inhibit DNA damage response (DDR) pathways, which enable tumours to mutate and evade treatment. The approach has the potential to kill cancer cells without damaging healthy cells.
Pfizer Ventures managing partner Barbara Dalton has joined the company’s board of directors along with Andera partner Raphael Wisniewski and Rene Kuijten, managing partner at LSP. Florian Müllershausen, principal at Novartis Venture Fund, will be a board observer.
Artios had previously received $36m in a 2016 series A round led by SV Health Investors that included M Ventures, AbbVie Ventures, Arix Bioscience, CRT Pioneer Fund and Touchstone Innovations, which was later acquired by IP Group.
The initial figure for the round was announced as $33.2m but Artios confirmed the final amount this week.
Artios CEO Niall Martin said: “This investor syndicate creates a very strong and committed shareholder base with a track record of supporting successful next generation companies.
“The oversubscribed series B fundraise is a strong endorsement of our world-leading development pipeline and reflects the opportunity for DDR to yield new breakthrough oncology products.”
– The original version of this article appeared on our sister website, Global University Venturing.