Israel-based oncology therapy developer Ayala Pharmaceuticals has secured $17m in a series A round featuring insurance group Harel Insurance and Finance, Fierce Biotech reported on Tuesday.
Venture capital fund Israel Biotech Fund led the round, which included VC firm aMoon. The three series A investors had partnered to set up Ayala in November 2017.
Ayala is developing cancer drugs based on two gamma secretase inhibitors it licensed from pharmaceutical firm Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) in December. BMS received an upfront payment and an equity stake in Ayala through the deal.
The drug candidates, BMS-906024 and BMS-986115, will target cancers with altered notch genes. Mammals have four notch receptors that function as cell signalling systems, and the therapies are intended to combat the faulty signalling that can drive some forms of cancer.
Ayala intends to initiate a phase 2 clinical trial for BMS-906024, which is now known as AL101, for recurrent or metastatic adenoid cystic carcinoma in the second half of 2018 using the funding. It is also investigating AL101’s potential in other cancer indications.