US-based antibody therapeutics developer BioAtla completed a $72.5m series D round yesterday backed by pharmaceutical firm Pfizer’s corporate venture capital unit, Pfizer Ventures.
Healthcare investment firms Soleus Capital and HBM Healthcare Investments co-led the round, which included Cormorant Asset Management, Farallon Capital, Pappas Capital, Boxer Capital, funds managed by Janus Henderson and an unnamed institutional investor.
BioAtla has built a technology platform to develop conditionally active biologics (CABs) – proteins which are activated or deactivated with changes to surrounding physiology, including that in human tissue.
The company has two antibody-drug conjugates in phase 1/2 clinical trials for cancer, and the series D proceeds will support their progress into phase 2 trials.
Jay M. Short, BioAtla’s chairman and CEO, said: “The proceeds of this financing greatly enhance our ability to design, implement, and execute clinical programs evolving from our CAB platform that uniquely yields tumour-targeting antibodies with the potential for an enhanced benefit risk profile.”
The company last raised money in 2016 when investment fund Global Bio Impact Fund provided $45m across two tranches. It signed a strategic partnership agreement with Pfizer the year before and described Pfizer Ventures as an existing backer.
The Pfizer deal came after BioAtla closed $39m in equity funding and $5.8m in debt financing from undisclosed investors earlier in 2015, according to regulatory filings.
