Financing enables company to embark on additional targets and expand ADC technology reach
Duisburg, Germany – Marseille, France, 25 November 2020: Emergence Therapeutics AG, a European biopharmaceutical company developing novel antibody drug conjugate (ADC) immuno-therapeutics to treat high need cancers, announces that is has closed a Bumped-up Follow-on Seed Round Financing from a syndicate of leading European investors comprising Bpifrance through its InnoBio 2 fund, Gründerfonds Ruhr, Heidelberg Pharma Research GmbH, High-Tech Gründerfonds, idinvest Partners, Kurma Partners and NRW.Bank. The Follow-on Seed Round was led by High-Tech Gründerfonds and included support from the first pillar of the German Federal Government’s Euro 2 billion package of measures for start-ups.
Jack Elands, CEO of Emergence Therapeutics said: “We are grateful for the continued support from our investors at this seed stage. The proceeds from the Follow-on Seed Round will be used to continue the development of our lead program targeting Nectin-4, an increasingly important and clinically validated target for a broad range of cancers. Moreover, the funding enables us to expedite work on further programs as well as expand our ADC toolset with additional, highly innovative linker-payload technologies.”
Anke Caßing, Senior Investment Manager at High-Tech Gründerfonds added: “We are particularly impressed with the approach Emergence Therapeutics is taking towards developing novel, much needed cancer treatments. The company features a unique combination of ADC technology driven by innovation and led by a world-class management team.”
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About Emergence Therapeutics
Emergence Therapeutics is a European biopharmaceutical company developing novel antibody drug conjugate (ADC) immuno-therapeutics to treat high-need cancers. Its lead program uses innovative linker technology and payload technology to target Nectin-4 – an important and validated target for a broad range of cancers. Furthermore, Emergence is actively exploring opportunities to develop further best- or first-in-class ADCs driven by therapeutic need.
Emergence has entered into a licensing and collaboration agreement with SATT Sud-Est (the regional tech transfer office for Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS and Inserm) through which the Company has been granted exclusive rights to a set of anti-Nectin-4 antibodies developed by Dr. Marc Lopez at the Cancer Research Center of Marseille, France. SATT Sud-Est is also providing financial support to the Emergence program.
Emergence has also entered into a licensing and collaboration agreement with Heidelberg Pharma Research GmbH, a subsidiary of Heidelberg Pharma AG (FWB: HPHA). Through this agreement Emergence has access to Heidelberg Pharma’s amanitin-based payloads and corresponding linkers (proprietary ATAC Technology). Heidelberg Pharma Research is also a founding investor in Emergence.
Nectin-4 has been clinically validated as an ADC target by enfortumab vedotin, recently approved for the treatment of urothelial cancers by the US Food and Drug Administration. Nectin-4 is highly expressed by many different cancers and has a limited expression in healthy tissues, especially compared to many other ADC targets. Emergence is developing a new Nectin-4 ADC with the potential to be a best-in-class ADC.
Emergence is led by a strong management team and is supported by a network of world-leading scientists who have contributed significantly to the field of immuno-oncology. The Company is backed by a strong syndicate of European investors including Bpifrance, Gründerfonds Ruhr, Heidelberg Pharma Research GmbH, High-Tech Gründerfonds, idinvest Partners, Kurma Partners and NRW.Bank. Emergence is based in Duisburg, Germany with a subsidiary in Marseille, France. For more information, please visit: www.emergencetx.com.
Contact:
Jack Elands, PhD
Chief Executive Officer
E jelands[at]emergencetx.com
M +33 6 38 35 70 08
Emergence Therapeutics AG
Schifferstrasse 210, D-47059 Duisburg, Germany