Bind Biosciences has landed an $8.7 million chunk of a planned $20 million raise designed to fuel the biotech's midstage study of its lead cancer drug. Bind--which was launched by serial biotech entrepreneur and MIT professor Robert Langer--reported the financing in SEC documents.
Much of that money is being earmarked for BIND-014, which is being steered into Phase II studies after racking up some notable solid tumor activity in an early-stage study. The big idea here is to use Bind's nanotechnology to precisely deliver an amped-up dose of docetaxel right to cancer cells and blood vessels that feed a variety of tumors. Bind was co-founded by Harvard's Omid Farokhzad, one of Langer's former graduate students.
"Proceeds from the financing will be used to fund Phase II clinical studies of BIND's lead drug candidate, BIND-014, a PSMA-targeted Accurin containing docetaxel, in multiple solid tumor indications," company CFO Andrew Hirsch tells FierceBiotech in an e-mailed statement. "Based on preclinical and clinical studies to date, the company believes there is potential for BIND-014 to offer a significant improvement in patient outcomes in a broad range of solid tumor indications. In addition, the company plans to continue to advance the capabilities of its nanomedicine platform for novel Accurins, including identifying further opportunities for proprietary drug candidates as well as pursuing collaborative drug development programs with pharmaceutical and biotech partners."
Bind, which is helmed by industry vet Scott Minick, has been busy since it was founded about 6 years ago. In the fall of 2011 the biotech--a 2008 Fierce 15 company--garnered a $47.25 million investment from RusNano, a Russian group which has been looking to import some cutting edge-nanotech into Russia. And Amgen recently inked a $180 million deal to use Bind's delivery tech with one of its cancer drugs, packaging one of the Big Biotech's kinase blockers in Bind's tiny transports and aiming them at malignant cells.
Bind execs have said that they expect to land additional collaboration deals this year as it moves its lead drug ahead in the clinic.
- here's the SEC document
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