Date: 2016-09-21
Type of information: Series A financing round
Company: Artios Pharma (UK)
Investors: SV Life Sciences (UK - USA) Merck Ventures (Germany) Imperial Innovations (UK) Arix Bioscience (UK) CRT Pioneer Fund (managed by Sixth Element) AbbVie Ventures (USA)
Amount: £25million ($33.2million)
Funding type: series A financing round
Planned used: Artios Pharma is a new UK-based company formed to develop drugs targeting the DNA damage response in cancer. The company has licensed its two lead DNA damage response programmes from CRT and has signed a non-exclusive research collaboration agreement through which Artios will work with CRT Discovery Laboratories to progress the lead programmes, and discover and develop additional promising drug targets selected from Cancer Research UK’s portfolio of DNA damage repair research. Artios Pharma's lead programme targets the pol-theta molecule and builds on cutting-edge cell biology research from Professor Gillies McKenna’s and Dr Geoff Higgins’ laboratories at the Cancer Research UK/MRC Oxford Institute for Radiation Biology (link is external). The pol-theta molecule is thought to control DNA repair processes in certain tumours. Knocking out the target could remove a vital path relied on by the cancer cell, causing it to die. A second programme against an undisclosed target has also been licensed to Artios. Artios is actively building a pipeline of promising first-in-class DNA damage response therapies from leading researchers in the field. Cancer Research UK’s extensive research base will provide the foundation for CRT to provide Artios with additional new molecular targets and establish collaborative partnerships with world-class scientists in the DNA damage response field.
Others: * On September 21, 2016, Cancer Research Technology (CRT) – the development and commercialisation arm of Cancer Research UK – and SV Life Sciences have announced the launch of Artios Pharma, a new company formed to develop drugs targeting the DNA damage response in cancer. Led by SV Life Sciences, Artios has raised series A financing of £25million ($33.2million) from Merck Ventures, Imperial Innovations, Arix Bioscience PLC, CRT Pioneer Fund (managed by Sixth Element) and AbbVie Ventures. Under the terms of the agreements, CRT will receive research funding into its Discovery Laboratories, equity in the company, and be eligible to receive milestone payments and royalties on projects advancing through Artios’ drug pipeline.
Therapeutic area: Cancer - Oncology
