On the heels of early-stage data for monoclonal antibody visugromab showing “impressive and lasting responses” among patients with difficult to treat cancers, CatalYm has secured a $150 million series D.
The German biotech plans to use the funds to develop and expand phase 2b trials into select checkpoint naïve front-line and second-line treatment settings, the company said in a Tuesday release.
“We continue to demonstrate visugromab’s potential to induce cancer remission depth and durability across multiple solid tumor indications emphasizing the substantial role visugromab could play in a novel anti-cancer therapy regimen,” CatalYm Managing Director and CEO Phil L’Huillier, Ph.D., said in the release. “We are building significant momentum for CatalYm’s development strategy and look forward to the support of these high-profile new and existing international investors.”
Those investors include newcomers Canaan Partners and Bioqube Ventures, who led the round, along with Forbion Growth, Omega Funds and Gilde Healthcare. Existing investors Jeito Capital, Brandon Capital Partners, Novartis Venture Fund and Vesalius also threw some cash into the mix.
CatalYm’s series D haul is close to triple their series C total in late 2022, when the biotech raised about $49 million.
Visugromab targets growth differentiation factor 15, an immunosuppressant which is normally used by fetal cells to prevent the mother’s immune system from attacking them. In cancer, GDF-15 is hijacked by tumor cells to protect them from the patient’s immune system, causing immunotherapies like anti-PD-1 therapy to fail.
At the American Society of Clinical Oncology this year, CatalYm presented data from the GDFATHER trial, which is testing visugromab in combination with Bristol Myers Squibb’s anti-PD-1 drug Opdivo in patients with non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), urothelial cancer and hepatocellular cancer. These patients were heavily pretreated and had shown resistance to anti-PD-1 therapy in the past. Each patient group had around 20 patients, with 90 total patients.
Across all tumor types, patients who received visugromab showed an objective response rate of 16.7%, including four patients whose tumors disappeared. The average duration of response surpassed 15 months for NSCLC, and 77% of the patients’ responses are still ongoing.
“We were initially drawn to the exciting biology around GDF-15 and found CatalYm to be at the forefront of the field,” Jon Edwards, Ph.D., managing partner at Bioqube Ventures, said in a statement. “We believe this approach has the potential to significantly increase durability and deepen responses, unlocking the full potential of I/O treatments. We are excited to support this fantastic team, and syndicate, in running robust clinical studies in a variety of promising indications.”