Date: 2014-02-19
Type of information: Series B financing round
Company: Covagen (Switzerland)
Investors: Gimv (Belgium), Ascent Biomedical Ventures (USA), Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners (France), MP Healthcare Venture Management (USA), Novartis Venture Fund (Switzerland), Seroba Kernel Life Sciences (Ireland), Ventech (France), Baxter Ventures (USA)
Amount: CHF 44.9 million (€36.7 million)
Funding type: series B financing round
Planned used: This financing will mainly support the clinical development of Covagen’s lead FynomAb® COVA322, the first clinical candidate generated using Covagen’s proprietary FynomAb platform technology. This bispecific TNF/IL-17A inhibitor for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and other inflammatory diseases has a novel mechanism of action not accessible with monoclonal antibodies. COVA322 is expected to enter clinical trials in early 2014. In addition, the proceeds from the Series B financing will further advance Covagen’s diverse discovery programs in oncology. Current research is focused on the generation of bi- and trispecific FynomAb drug candidates with tailored architectures and novel modes-of-action in the fields of CD3 therapeutics, immunomodulation and bispecific antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs).
Others: * On February 19, 2014, Covagen has announced it has added Baxter Ventures as an investor in its Series B financing round raising the total to CHF 44.9 million. The Series B includes an option for all existing investors to invest an additional CHF 14 million in the future potentially increasing the total amount of this financing round to CHF 58.9 million. The additional financing will primarily support the clinical development of Covagen’s lead FynomAb® COVA322, a bispecific TNF/IL-17A inhibitor for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and other inflammatory diseases. COVA322 has a novel mechanism of action not accessible with monoclonal antibodies and is expected to enter clinical trials in early 2014.
* On December 9, 2013, Covagen has announced that the company has secured CHF 42 million in a tranched Series B financing with an option to obtain an additional CHF 14 million that would increase the total amount of the financing round to CHF 56 million. This is one of the largest private financing rounds for a preclinical-stage biotech company in Europe. The financing is led by new investor Gimv with CHF 8.3 million and includes the participation of new investor Ascent Biomedical Ventures and existing investors Novartis Venture Fund, Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners, Seroba Kernel Life Sciences, Ventech and MP Healthcare Venture Management, Inc. In conjunction with the financing, Dr. Karl Naegler, Partner Health & Care at Gimv, and Avi Kometz, M.D., partner at Ascent Biomedical Ventures, have joined the board of directors. Previously, the company had raised a total of CHF 14 million.
Last month, Covagen has also expanded its strategic research collaboration with Tanabe Research Laboratories U.S.A (TRL). A first bispecific FynomAb has been selected for formal preclinical development which triggered an undisclosed milestone payment. TRL and Mitsubishi Tanabe also exercised an option for a second bispecific FynomAb program based on the parties’ research and licensing agreement signed in October 2012.
Therapeutic area: Autoimmune diseases – Inflammatory diseases - Rheumatic diseases - Cancer - Oncology
