Key Takeaways
- • Harbour BioMed (HBM) completed a $75 million Series B+ venture capital financing, according to a Business Wire release, to advance its clinical-stage compounds and next-generation biotherapeutics for cancer and immunological diseases.
- • New investors SK Holdings, Greater Bay Area Fund, Efung Capital, Zheshang Venture Capital, Zhejiang University Future Capital and JT New Century joined existing backers Legend Capital, AdvanTech and GIC Pvt. Ltd.
- • The round follows an $85 million Series B financing completed in August 2018, bringing total disclosed Series B-stage funding to $160 million.
- • HBM's lead pipeline includes HBM4003, a fully human anti-CTLA-4 antibody in Phase 1 trials in Australia, with US, EU and China studies planned, and HBM 9161, an anti-FcRn antibody entering Phase 2/3 trials in Greater China.
- • The company is also expanding its discovery work into COVID-19 through a collaboration with Mount Sinai Health System in New York.
Summary
Harbour BioMed, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with operations in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Rotterdam, the Netherlands; and Suzhou and Shanghai, China, announced the completion of a $75 million Series B+ venture capital financing, according to a Business Wire release dated March 12, 2020. The proceeds will be used to accelerate the advancement of its clinical-stage compounds and its growing portfolio of next-generation biotherapeutics for cancer and immunological diseases. The company said the funds will help drive its programs toward key clinical and development milestones.
The round drew six new investors: SK Holdings, Greater Bay Area Fund, Efung Capital, Zheshang Venture Capital, Zhejiang University Future Capital and JT New Century. They joined existing investors Legend Capital, AdvanTech and GIC Pvt. Ltd. The release follows an $85 million Series B financing completed in August 2018. Founder, Chairman and CEO Dr. Jingsong Wang said the company had made significant progress over the preceding months, including advancing two leading assets toward mid-to-late stage trials in China and beginning international clinical studies of its first internally discovered biotherapeutic.
The lead asset, HBM4003, is a next-generation, fully human anti-CTLA-4 antibody based on HBM's heavy chain only (HCAb) discovery technology. Its Phase 1 trial for advanced solid tumors began in Australia and is the first step in an international program that will include trials in the US, EU and China. HBM recently received FDA IND approval for its US trial. The company reported preclinical data suggesting increased anti-tumor activity and a favorable safety profile.
Other pipeline updates include the start of Phase 2/3 trials of HBM 9161, an anti-FcRn antibody, for several severe autoimmune diseases, including myasthenia gravis, adult immune thrombocytopenia and Graves' ophthalmopathy, with studies expected to begin in the first half of 2020 in Greater China. HBM also completed a Phase 2 trial of HBM 9036 for dry eye disease and plans to start a Phase 3 registration trial in Q2 2020 in China. In addition, a Phase 2 program for HBM9167, a humanized IgG1 anti-PD-L1 antibody for nasopharyngeal cancer, has begun, and the US FDA granted it Orphan Drug Designation for that indication. The company also disclosed a collaboration with Mount Sinai Health System in New York to apply its antibody discovery platform to COVID-19.
The round drew six new investors: SK Holdings, Greater Bay Area Fund, Efung Capital, Zheshang Venture Capital, Zhejiang University Future Capital and JT New Century. They joined existing investors Legend Capital, AdvanTech and GIC Pvt. Ltd. The release follows an $85 million Series B financing completed in August 2018. Founder, Chairman and CEO Dr. Jingsong Wang said the company had made significant progress over the preceding months, including advancing two leading assets toward mid-to-late stage trials in China and beginning international clinical studies of its first internally discovered biotherapeutic.
The lead asset, HBM4003, is a next-generation, fully human anti-CTLA-4 antibody based on HBM's heavy chain only (HCAb) discovery technology. Its Phase 1 trial for advanced solid tumors began in Australia and is the first step in an international program that will include trials in the US, EU and China. HBM recently received FDA IND approval for its US trial. The company reported preclinical data suggesting increased anti-tumor activity and a favorable safety profile.
Other pipeline updates include the start of Phase 2/3 trials of HBM 9161, an anti-FcRn antibody, for several severe autoimmune diseases, including myasthenia gravis, adult immune thrombocytopenia and Graves' ophthalmopathy, with studies expected to begin in the first half of 2020 in Greater China. HBM also completed a Phase 2 trial of HBM 9036 for dry eye disease and plans to start a Phase 3 registration trial in Q2 2020 in China. In addition, a Phase 2 program for HBM9167, a humanized IgG1 anti-PD-L1 antibody for nasopharyngeal cancer, has begun, and the US FDA granted it Orphan Drug Designation for that indication. The company also disclosed a collaboration with Mount Sinai Health System in New York to apply its antibody discovery platform to COVID-19.
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