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With $74 Million in Fresh Capital, Belgian Startup Aims to Advance its Regenerative Pathway Modulators
On March 10th, AgomAb, a Belgian biotherapeutics company, announced it had raised $74 million Series B financing. The company aims to develop therapeutics that can stimulate the body’s regenerative pathways leading to repair and restoration of organ function. Their lead therapeutic is AGMB-101, a Hepatocyte growth factor-mimetic antibody.
Growth factors are signaling molecules that promote cell differentiation, growth, survival, tissue repair, and other cellular functions. Activation of the Hepatocyte Growth Factor (HGF) and its receptor, the Met tyrosine kinase, have been shown to improve liver cirrhosis, promote beta-cell regeneration in models of diabetes, and protects against lung fibrosis. However, the natural HGF protein has a short half-life, and it is costly to manufacture. New therapeutic approaches that can harness this regenerative pathway could lead to novel therapeutics for various diseases.
AgomAb Therapeutics
Founded in 2017, AgomAb Therapeutics aims to develop therapies that modulate regenerative pathways. They use highly specific monoclonal antibodies to activate regenerative pathways and treat acute and chronic inflammatory, metabolic, and fibrotic diseases.
Their lead therapeutic, AGMB-101, is an HGF-mimetic agonistic antibody, which is currently in investigational new drug (IND)-enabling studies. AGMB-101 was developed using the argenx’ validated SIMPLE antibody platform. The result is a highly stable, highly specific antibody, which also has a long half-life.
Raising Money
Led by Redmile Group, with participation from Cormorant Asset Management, AgomAB raised $74 million as part of the Series B financing round. This is on top of the €21 million in the previous financing round in 2019. The money will be used to fund clinical proof of concept for AGMB-101, as well as to expand the company’s pipeline of drug candidates. All previous investors, including Advent France Biotechnology, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, and Omnes Capital, participated in this round.
“The size and quality of this round reinforces the strong scientific foundation on which AgomAb was built and the support by our initial investors. It enables us to further accelerate our development progress and pipeline growth,” said Tim Knotnerus, Chief Executive Officer at AgomAb Therapeutics. “Adding two top-tier US investors and expanding the leadership team is a very important strategic step for the company, supporting our vision of transforming regenerative medicine.”
Additionally, AgomAb announced Philippe Wiesel would join as Chief Medical Officer, Paul van der Horst would join as Chief Business Officer, and Tolga Hassan would join as Chief Financial Officer. Also, a representative from Redmile will join the board of directors.
The Dark Side of HGF
HGF/Met interaction has been involved in regenerative processes, and treatment with recombinant HGF has shown promising results in clinical trials for chronic leg ulcers and in mice models of ALS, hepatitis, and kidney injury. However, activation of this pathway is involved in multiple cancers. There are many small molecule inhibitors and antibodies currently in clinical trials to mitigate HGF/Met activation.
If they exploit their expertise to develop highly efficient inhibitory antibodies and they are more effective than current treatments, it could present a new market opportunity for AgomAb.
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