Swiss biotech CDR Life has nabbed $76 million in series A bucks to flesh out its multispecific T-cell engagers, a fundraising haul led by Sanofi-backed, Paris investment firm Jeito Capital, which now turns its attention toward bolstering autoimmune programs.
The fundraising haul announced Wednesday, co-led by RA Capital Management and Omega Fund Management, is meant to give CDR Life and its tumor-targeting T-cell engagers enough cash to push two assets into phase 1 trials. Jeito also noted that the money could help expand CDR Life’s pipeline. Jeito founder and CEO Rafaèle Tordjman, M.D., Ph.D., suggested in an interview with Fierce Biotech that one of the benefits of investing in the biotech now was beating more fervent interest once the company entered the clinic.
“It’s why, even though they are not yet in clinic, we think the technology is exceptional,” she said. “We thought it was the right opportunity for us.”
Both CDR Life and Jeito are banking on the company’s T-cell engagers to pioneer a new frontier in therapies against solid tumors. By combining the engagers with multispecific antibodies that target tumor proteins on the outside of cells, the company is hopeful it can unlock a new wave of treatments for hard-to-tackle cancers.
That platform is the basis for four of the company’s assets, including CDR404, its lead program for lung, bladder and esophagus cancers that's currently in the preclinical stage. Three others remained undisclosed but are indicated for solid tumors. The company is also looking for partners on its BCMA-targeting tri-specific therapy for multiple myeloma, an asset that has shown in preclinical study to be more than 100 times more potent in vitro and in vivo compared to bispecific counterparts. Lastly, the company is nearly two years into a pact with Boehringer Ingelheim for its undisclosed med for multiple degradation.
While CDR Life's current pipeline has established some depth, Tordjman believes further expanding the number of programs could be beneficial, highlighting the value in “optionality” especially when it’s a mad dash to the clinic.
“It’s really to give the maximum of chance,” she said. While the stated goal of the funding is to advance two programs into the clinic, Tordjman, who joined the company’s board as part of the financing, would not specify any timelines for the company’s assets.
Bolstering Tordjman’s confidence is the experience of the company’s executive team, led by CEO Christian Leisner. Four out of five members of CDR Life’s leadership helped run ESBATech, an ophthalmology-focused antibody maker that was bought first by Alcon before being swallowed by Novartis in 2010.
The investment extends Jeito’s accrued portfolio to 534 million euros ($570 million) in assets, a hefty sum for a venture capital firm 18 months into the business. For perspective, Bayer’s VC arm Leaps By Bayer has invested 1.3 billion euros over the last seven years. Tordjman says looking ahead, the firm will turn toward adding companies focused on treating autoimmune diseases. As of now, Jeito has brought on one such company: cell-therapy-focused Quell Therapeutics.
“What we see a lot more and more is autoimmune,” Tordjman said, specifying that Jeito is interested in biotechs using antibody or small molecule approaches to autoimmune disease. “There [is] much more deal flow in autoimmune and we would like very much to invest in these companies.”
Tordjman added that there’s also interest in investing in companies building on a portfolio targeting the central nervous system. But she cautioned that early dealmaking for those biotechs is precarious, with a firm like Jeito needing to particularly weigh early-stage risk versus pharma competition once data are available.