– SWITZERLAND, Zurich – Araris Biotech AG, a company pioneering antibody-drug conjugate (ADC)-linker technology, today announced an additional CHF 12.7 million seed financing led by Pureos Bioventures alongside new investors 4BIO Capital, btov Partners, and existing investors Redalpine, VI Partners, and Schroder Adveq bringing the total amount raised to date over CHF 15 million.
Concurrent with the financing, the company announced Dr. Dominik Escher, managing partner at Pureos, Dr. Dmitry Kuzmin, managing partner at 4BIO Capital, Dr. Michael Sidler, Co-Founding Partner at Redalpine, and Dr. Arnd Kaltofen, Managing Partner at VI Partners, are joining its board of directors.
The proceeds will be used to nominate a clinical candidate and advance Araris’ lead program into preclinical and clinical development. The new funds will also support the development of a broad proprietary pipeline of ADC compounds.
“We see this funding as strong validation of our company, lead programs and the Araris ADC-linker platform. We’re focused on using our unique linker technology, that allows development of ADCs without engineering the native antibody, to design better medicines for cancer. This capital will allow us to advance our lead program to the next stage of development and progress our preclinical pipeline towards the clinic. We are also pleased to further strengthen our investor base with such a distinguished group of investors, all of whom have a proven track record of supporting successful emerging companies.” said CEO and co-founder, Dr. Philipp Spycher.
Dr. Dragan Grabulovski, co-founder and founding chairman added, “The quality of the investors reflects the quality of the science, the product candidates and the entire team at Araris Biotech. I would like to welcome Dominik Escher, Dmitry Kuzmin, Michael Sidler, and Arnd Kaltofen to the board of directors. Their experience and knowledge of the sector will be key to ensuring Araris’ continued success.”
Dr. Dominik Escher, managing partner at Pureos, commented, “With this significant seed round, Araris is in an excellent position to advance its antibody-drug conjugates towards the clinic. Today, there are nine antibody-drug conjugates approved by the FDA but many of them cannot be dosed high enough to elicit efficacy due to systemic toxicity often caused by linker instability or heterogeneous distributions of the payload. Araris technology addresses these limitations and offers a novel and innovative approach to bring better therapies to patients in need.”
Dr. Dmitry Kuzmin, managing partner at 4BIO Capital, said, “We are excited to be investing at this early stage of what we expect to be an extraordinary future for Araris. Its pioneering technology, enabling fast and precise production of ADCs, is highly innovative and we believe has huge potential to bring enhanced therapies to patients across the globe.”
About Araris Biotech AG
Araris Biotech AG is a spin-off company from the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) and ETH Zurich focusing on the commercialization of a novel antibody-drug conjugate (ADC)-linker technology. Araris’ innovative platform allows for the attachment of any payload to ‘off the shelf’ antibodies without the need for prior antibody engineering in one-step. The resulting ADCs have a well-defined drug-to-antibody ratio, are stable and monomeric. All these favorable properties contribute to the high efficacy, stability and low level of toxicity observed so far. In summary, the straightforward drug conjugation, versatility of the technology, and high in vivo efficacy enable the generation of ADC compounds for the treatment of patients with a high unmet medical need.
For more information, visit www.ararisbiotech.com.
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