Switzerland-based antibody developer NBE Therapeutics has added CHF20m from investors including pharmaceutical firms Novo and Boehringer Ingelheim to a series B round now sized at CHF40m ($40.2m).
Novo and Boehringer Ingelheim, which invested through its Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (BVIF), joined PPF Capital Partners Fund, a subsidiary of investment group PPF, and unnamed private investors to supply the second tranche.
BVIF, PPF and undisclosed private investors had also provided the round’s first CHF20m in late 2016. Nanna Lüneborg, a partner at Novo subsidiary Novo Ventures, is joining NBE’s board of directors in connection with its investment.
NBE is working on antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) to treat cancer, focusing on specific tumour targets. It will put the extra funding into advancing its pipeline and moving its lead product candidate, solid tumour drug candidate NBE-002, into clinical development.
Ulf Grawunder, NBE’s chief executive, said: “The additional investment by Novo into NBE Therapeutics represents another strong endorsement of our ADC platform, our team and our strategy for developing promising ADC product candidates for the benefit of cancer patients.
“We are particularly excited that Novo Holdings, with its outstanding track record and reputation in the field of life science investments, has become a major shareholder of NBE Therapeutics.”
BVIF had previously led a $3.1m series A round in 2015 that increased NBE’s overall funding to $5.7m.