France-based cancer therapy developer ImCheck Therapeutics completed a $53m series B round yesterday that was co-led by pharmaceutical firm Pfizer through its corporate venturing unit, Pfizer Ventures.
Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, the investment arm of pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim, also participated in the round, as did Alexandria Venture Investments, life sciences real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities’ venture capital vehicle.
BPIfrance’s InnoBio 2 and Large Venture funds co-led the round with Pfizer Ventures while Wellington Partners, Life Sciences Partners (LSP), Gimv, Idinvest Partners, Kurma Partners and Agent Capital filled out the investors.
ImCheck is working on immunotherapy antibodies intended to treat cancer by targeting a type of immunomodulator molecules called butyrophilins to trigger g9d2 T cells to destroy cancerous cells. The cash will fund the first clinical trials for a monoclonal antibody known as ICT01.
Michael Baran, a principal at Pfizer Ventures who is also the company’s executive director of external science and innovation, is joining the company’s board of directors along with Regina Hodits from Wellington Partners.
Baran said: “We believe that furthering the understanding of gd T cell activation could provide the basis for an area of research that could have tremendous potential for treating patients with certain cancers and autoimmune diseases, and we are pleased to be co-leaders in this financing round.”
The company had raised $21.8m in a mid-2017 series A round co-led by Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, Kurma Partners and Idinvest Partners and backed by Gimv and LSP.
Dentons Europe and Dechert provided legal counsel for the series B round while investor relations support came from Trophic Communications.
