UK-based cancer-focused biotechnology company Artios Pharma launched yesterday with $33.2m in series A capital provided by investors including pharmaceutical companies Merck Group and AbbVie.
SV Life Sciences led the round, which included life sciences company Arix Bioscience, Imperial Innovations, the investment firm affiliated with Imperial College London, which invested approximately $6.8m, CRT Pioneer Fund and European Investment Fund.
The corporates invested through their respective corporate venturing subsidiaries, Merck Ventures and AbbVie Ventures.
Artios Pharma is working on DNA damage response (DDR) cancer therapies, which exploit the body’s own cellular pathways to sense, signal and repair lesions in the DNA.
The technology is based on research conducted by Cancer Research UK and was spun out by Cancer Research Technology (CRT), the charity’s technology transfer arm, which also oversees the £50m ($65m) Pioneer Fund.
The capital will be used to build a pipeline of therapies and to advance lead candidates to clinical trials. Imperial Innovations’ investment bought it a 14.9% stake.
Niall Martin, CEO of Artios, said: “DDR drug products have the potential to become established first-line treatments, either as single agents or for use in combination with many currently approved therapies.
“It is an ideal time for Artios to be entering the field as a DDR-focused, independent biotech company and we are delighted to welcome our world-class investors to the company and to announce our first partnership with Cancer Research Technology.”
– A version of this article originally appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.