Abcuro on Thursday announced that it raised $155 million in Series B financing that will be used to complete a Phase II/III registrational trial of ABC008 for the treatment of inclusion body myositis (IBM). The investment was co-led by Redmile Group and Bain Capital Life Sciences, with other participants including RA Capital Management, Samsara BioCapital and Sanofi Ventures.
"Targeting the depletion of cytotoxic T-cells that express KLRG1 with ABC008…has generated exciting early data in patients with IBM," remarked chief medical officer H. Jeffrey Wilkins. The company previously highlighted data from a Phase I trial showing that at the ABC008 dose levels being used in the Phase II/III study, 97% depletion of blood target cells was observed at 28 days post injection.
Abcuro is also evaluating the antibody in a Phase I/II trial for T-LGLL, while plans are under way for a Phase I/II study in T- and NK-cell lymphomas. Meanwhile, the company, which closed a $42 million Series A-1 financing in 2021, has a monoclonal antibody dubbed ABC015 in preclinical development. The therapy is designed to interrupt the interaction of KLRG1 with E- and N-cadherin on the surface of cancer cells.