Pheon Therapeutics has pulled in another $120 million to fund its differentiated antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) pipeline, with its lead asset expected to enter the clinic later this year. CEO Cyrus Mozayeni called the Series B “a critical step” for the company, which emerged from stealth in 2022.At that time, Pheon was led by Bertrand Damour, with Mozayeni being appointed last year to drive the company’s growth. Prior to Pheon, Mozayeni co-founded Vedere Bio, serving as chief executive from inception through to its $280-million sale to Novartis. Mozayeni also founded CODA Biotherapeutics and Oncorus, as well as working in business development at bluebird bio.According to Pheon, the latest financing – led by TCGX, with participation from new investors BVF Partners, Lightspeed and Perceptive Advisors – will be used to advance its pipeline through clinical proof-of-concept. The company’s first three assets are aimed at an undisclosed novel target, which is highly overexpressed in a wide range of solid tumours.The first candidate, dubbed PHN-010, utilises a DAR8 Topoisomerase-1 inhibitor linker-payload, while the other two comprise different linker-payload technologies in an effort “to mine the broad potential” of the target.