Despite IPO Rumors, BioNTech Closes Upsized Series B Worth $325 Million
Mainz, Germany-based BioNTech, which was recently believed to be maneuvering for an initial public offering, instead raised $325 million in a Series B financing round. This makes it one of the biggest single private funding rounds for a biotechnology company in European history. The round was led by Fidelity Management & Research Company. New and existing investors participated, including Redmile Group, Invus, MiraeAsset Financial Group, Platinum Asset Management, Jebsen Capital, Steam Athena Capital, BVCF Management and the Struengmann Family Office.
The company expects to use the funds in support of its pipeline and manufacturing infrastructure.
In May, BioNTech acquired the antibody assets and infrastructure from San Diego-based MabVax Therapeutics Holding. Under the terms of that deal, BioNTech picked up MabVax’s lead candidate, MVT-5873, as well other preclinical antibody assets to expand its existing antibody portfolio and RiboMABS development capabilities. MVT-5873 is currently in Phase I development in pancreatic cancer and has been tested in 35 patients with initial positive interim data announced in February 2018.
In addition to picking up MabVax’s assets, it acquired the company’s infrastructure and laboratory equipment with plans to establish a research facility in San Diego. The company has also inked development partnerships with Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Bayer and Sanofi.
“This financing round is a significant milestone that recognizes our scientific and initial clinical track record to date,” stated Ugur Sahin, chief executive officer and co-founder of BioNTech. “With our ongoing focus on bringing together transformative technologies, it is exciting to have the support from high-technology investors who see the accelerating convergence of biology with bioinformatics, robotics and artificial intelligence as an opportunity to develop more precise, efficacious and cost-effective individualized immunotherapies.”
The company closed on a $270 million Series A round in January 2018, led by Redmile Group. This allowed the company to move a pipeline of seven product candidates forward in eight ongoing clinical trials, receive a second GMP manufacturing license to produce its individualized neoantigen-specific immunotherapies and to expand its antibody platform.
BioNTech is a messenger RNA (mRNA) company. mRNA carries the coded messages of DNA to the ribosomes, where they are turned into proteins. Theoretically, by programming and delivering mRNA as a therapeutic, it would turn the body’s protein-manufacturing engines in the cells into drug factories.
This upsized round also suggests that investors are very optimistic about the technology. Last year, one of the other best-known mRNA companies, Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Moderna, raised a record-breaking $600 million in its IPO.
BioNTech also has non-mRNA approaches, as well as CAR-T therapies for solid tumors.
“Our philosophy is simple,” Sean Marett, chief business officer and chief operating officer of BioNTech, told Labiotech. “First of all we look at the target … then we pick the right technology to develop a product. And that’s very different from a platform, where you’re offering a technology for a number of applications.”
On June 17, BioNTech with Genmab, initiated the first-in-human Phase I/IIa clinical trial with DuoBody-PD-L1x4-1BB, a bispecific antibody, in metastatic or unresectable malignant solid tumors. The therapy is the first product candidate the companies’ global 50% cost-sharing 50% profit-sharing collaboration to make it into the clinic. The deal was signed in 2015 and expanded in 2016 to include additional targets.
BioSpace source:
https://www.biospace.com/article/biontech-nabs-325-million-in-upsized-series-b