Memo Therapeutics, an innovator in the field of antibody discovery and immune repertoire analysis, has raised CHF 13.8 million in a Series B financing round led by Swisscanto and joined by Bernina Bioinvest as well as existing shareholders Verve Ventures, Schroder Adveq, Jaquet Partners and Redalpine. Verve Ventures has backed the ETH spin-off since 2018.

The proceeds of the financing will be used primarily to advance the development of Memo Therapeutics’ lead antibody candidate (MTX-COVAB) for the treatment of COVID-19 through to Phase II clinical studies. It is a fully human, highly potent antibody isolated from clinically selected convalescent COVID-19 donors that also neutralizes all major known mutants. Memo Therapeutics has agreed on a fast-track development plan for it with regulatory authorities and plans to begin clinical studies in 2021.

Memo Therapeutics intends to also use the proceeds to advance clinical development to Phase II of its neutralizing antibody MTX-005, directed against BK virus infection in renal transplant patients, which poses a series threat to transplant success. In addition, Memo Therapeutics AG expects to develop additional anti-infectious disease candidate antibodies and expand corporate partnering activities with the funding.

“Our concept to discover antibodies from convalescent human donors within 3 weeks and to develop that idea within 9 months to first-in-human has been a huge effort by the entire team. It is very satisfying to now have the financial backing required to start implementing our clinical development plan“ said Christoph Esslinger, CSO and co-founder of Memo Therapeutics.

(For more background about Memo Therapeutics’ “Hack Corona” Initiative, read our interview with CEO Karsten Fischer from March 2020.)

Why we invested in Memo Therapeutics:

– Memo Therapeutics has developed a revolutionary approach to identify rare antibodies for drug discovery. Today, the market for antibody therapeutics that fight serious illnesses such as cancer and arthritis is estimated to be worth between $60-100 billion. Antibodies are currently the most valuable assets in the pharmaceutical industry.
– Memo Therapeutics’ best-in-class antibody discovery platform combines cutting-edge microfluidics and single-cell technologies. Its effectiveness and speed at identifying antibodies have been proven again with its SARS-COV 2 program. Antibody discovery took just 3 weeks instead of the usual 6-12 months.
– The company already has 2 candidates in the pre-clinical stage which will enter clinical studies in 2021. The COVID-19 antibody is expected to receive conditional marketing authorization in the EU by mid-2021. Serving as a significant validation point for the entire platform, this milestone will make the company an attractive takeover target.
– The company exploits its technology platform to form a strong pipeline of proprietary therapeutic antibody candidates and makes the platform accessible for partnered discovery and development projects with Biotech and Pharma. All of these projects target multibillion-dollar markets for difficult-to-find antibodies in disease areas such as infectious diseases and cancer.

 

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