US-based oncology therapy developer Wugen closed a $172m series B round featuring Alexandria Venture Investments, the venture capital arm of life sciences real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities, yesterday.
Abingworth and Tybourne Capital Management co-led the round, which included investment and financial services group Fidelity, Intermediate Capital Group, Sands Capital, Aisling Capital Management, Velosity Capital, Falcon Edge Capital, RiverVest Venture Partners, Lyzz Capital and Lightchain Capital.
Wugen is developing a pipeline of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell and memory natural killer (NK) cell therapies for patients with solid tumours, acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and T-cell malignancies. Its lead product candidate, WU-NK-101, has demonstrated the potential to be highly effective against AML.
The proceeds of the round will go towards clinical development of the company’s memory NK cell technology platform and support ongoing clinical trials in patients with various types of cancer. It will also use some of the funding to advance its pipeline of other therapies.
Dan Kemp, Wugen’s president and CEO, said: “We have tremendous confidence that our off-the-shelf memory NK cell platform will give rise to a significant pipeline of highly effective and safe anti-cancer therapies.”
The company had previously raised $36m in a series A round which included Rivervest, LC Endeavor and Lyzz Capital that was closed at an undisclosed date. Its website also lists BioGenerator, part of life science-focused innovation hub BioSTL, as an investor.