Date: 2015-12-02
Type of information: Series A financing round
Company: Kesios Therapeutics (UK)
Investors: Imperial Innovations Group (UK) SV Life Sciences (UK - USA) Abingworth (UK)
Amount: £19 million (€ 26.9 million)
Funding type: series A financing round
Planned used: Kesios is developing novel therapeutics for the treatment of multiple myeloma and other cancers. KES-0001, the company’s lead drug candidate, is about to enter clinical studies as a potential treatment for multiple myeloma. The company was created to commercialise research led by Professor Guido Franzoso from the Department of Medicine at Imperial College London. Kesios is developing drug candidates that exploit a novel target within the nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) pathway. The target appears to be critical in promoting cancer cell survival in certain white blood cells of patients with multiple myeloma and other malignancies.
Others: * On December 2, 2015, Kesios Therapeutics, an early-stage company developing novel therapeutics for the treatment of multiple myeloma and other cancers, announced the successful closing of a £19 million Series A financing. The syndicate compromises a consortium of leading venture investors, including Imperial Innovations Group, and international investment groups, SV Life Sciences and Abingworth. As part of the Series A Investment Kate Bingham, SV Life Sciences, and Kurt von Emster, Abingworth, have joined the Kesios Board.
Concurrent with the financing, Kesios has expanded its leadership team appointing Paolo Paoletti, MD, as Chief Executive Officer. He joined the company as Executive Chairman earlier in 2015. Jane Robertson, MD, joined as Chief Medical Officer after leading clinical development activities at AstraZeneca for a number of oncology products, including most recently the development and registration in the EU and US of Lynparza®. Peter Charlton was appointed Chief Scientific Officer having previously worked at Vertex as VP, Biology. Dayle Hogg has also joined Kesios as Chief Operating Officer following his role as an investment manager at Imperial Innovations.
Therapeutic area: Cancer - Oncology
