Pharmaceutical firm Novo Holdings has co-led a CHF100m ($110m) series C round for Switzerland-based immuno-oncology therapy developer Numab Therapeutics.
Healthcare-focused investment firm HBM Partners co-led the round investing together with Forbion Capital Partners’ Growth Opportunities Fund, Cormorant Asset Management, BVF Partners, RTW Investments, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Octagon Capital Advisors, and undisclosed existing backers.
Founded in 2011, Numab is developing antibody-based immunotherapies for chronic inflammatory diseases and cancer through an antibody discovery and engineering technology platform.
Numab will use the investment to accelerate and expand the clinical development of its lead programme, NM21-1480, an immunotherapy for multiple types of cancers. The funding will also advance the company’s pipeline of other antibody treatments into clinical trials.
Alongside the series C round, the business has appointed Nanna Lüneborg, partner at Novo’s corporate venturing arm, Novo Ventures, to its board of directors.
Numab received $23.8m in a series B round in March 2020 that included pharmaceutical firms 3SBio Group and Eisai, as well as Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, a venture capital subsidiary of financial services firm Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Numab’s chairman Daniel Vasella and undisclosed existing investors.
3SBio Group participated in the series B round through its subsidiary Sunshine Guojian, which had agreed to a strategic collaboration agreement with Numab in December 2019. Sunshine Guojian committed $15.2m of series B funding to the company as part of the agreement.
The details of Numab’s series A round could not be confirmed, however, the company describes pharmaceutical companies CStone Pharmaceuticals, Ono Pharmaceutical, Kaken Pharmaceutical and Tillotts Pharma as partners on its website.