Israel-based immuno-oncology therapy developer Biond Biologics has completed a $17m series B round co-led by Harel Insurance & Finance Group and specialist investment vehicle Israel Biotech Fund.
The round also featured pharmaceutical company Celgene and SBI JI Innovation Fund, a joint venture formed by financial services provider SBI Holdings and Singaporean state-owned venture capital firm Vertex and as well as undisclosed existing investors.
Founded in 2016, Biond Biologics is developing immunotherapies to stimulate or suppress elements of the immune system in order to help treat cancer and other autoimmune diseases, which are caused by the immune system attacking the body and damaging tissue.
In addition to advancing its lead candidate, BION-202, into clinical trials, the company will use proceeds from the round to develop a second candidate, BION-206, together with its core antibody cell-internalisation technology. It has not revealed details of earlier funding.
Tehila Ben Moshe, co-founder and CEO of Biond Biologics, said: “We are excited to have such prominent investors as shareholders who are aligned with the company’s vision of delivering breakthrough immune-based solutions to patients with serious diseases.
“After two years of intense and creative discovery work, we are ready to advance our first innovative drug candidate into clinical trials.”
Biond was founded by the former scientific team of cCam Biotherapeutics, an immuno-oncology company acquired by pharmaceutical company Merck in 2015.