Swiss biotech Alentis Therapeutics thinks it can expand the reach of the Claudin family in oncology, and half a dozen new investors are helping back the idea with a $181.4 million Series D.
Tuesday’s raise, which arrives 19 months after a $105 million
Series C
, will give the Basel-based biotech the chance to investigate the first anti-Claudin-1 ADC in human studies.
The five-year-old biotech has already tested out the hypothesis with a monoclonal antibody in Phase 1. Now, it wants to see if the en vogue field of antibody-drug conjugates can also do the trick in treating CLDN1+ tumors.
Part of a tight junction protein family known as Claudins, CLDN1 is known to play a role in shielding tumors from the immune system and driving organ disruption in fibrosis. Alentis CEO Roberto Iacone believes CLDN1 is implicated in nine “big indications” in cancer and could give the startup access to a broader patient population than other Claudin drugs, including the recently greenlit
Claudin18.2
gastric cancer medicine from Astellas.
“What we realize in the ADC space is that there is a scarcity of new targets,” Iacone told
Endpoints News
. “So essentially we belong to the new targets, Claudin-1, but at the same time, Claudin-1 is in a protein family space that is very well derisked.”
The biotech
plans
to enter Phase 1 next quarter with a tubulin inhibitor-based ADC known as ALE.P02. The company will bring another anti-CLDN1+ ADC into the clinic next year as well. That second ADC is a topoisomerase 1 inhibitor and codenamed ALE.P03.
Alentis also has a CLDN1-targeted monoclonal antibody in two
clinical trials
for
fibrosis conditions
. That asset, dubbed lixudebart or ALE.F02, has attracted big pharma interest because of the few mechanisms of action available in the organ fibrosis space, Iacone said.
With a new board in place, the company will figure out next steps for that program, including potential partnerships, the CEO said. In conjunction with the Series D, Alentis added OrbiMed’s Dina Chaya, Frazier’s Anna Chen and Longitude’s Brian Liu to the board.
Beyond those clinical programs, the 50-employee startup has a pipeline of other bispecific antibodies, ADCs and T cell engagers, a modality that has also caught the attention of multiple pharma acquirers and investors in recent months.
With the new round and market conditions seemingly improving, Alentis could consider a Nasdaq listing as its next financial milestone, Iacone said. The company should have early data on its lead ADC within about 18 months, which will be “very important momentum for the company,” he added.
The CEO also highlighted the M&A experience of Alentis’ board members, as many large pharmas have splashed billions of dollars on ADC consumptions in recent years. Alentis chair Luca Santarelli was CEO of VectivBio when Ironwood bought it and CEO of Therachon when Pfizer acquired it. Board director William Pao was chief development officer when Pfizer made the $43 billion bet on Seagen and its ADC pipeline.
OrbiMed led the Series D. Novo Holdings and Jeito Capital co-led the round, which also included new investors Frazier Life Sciences, Longitude Capital, Catalio Capital Management and others.