Mega Series C in Switzerland

Alentis Therapeutics is a Swiss-French biotech company that launched seed funding of around CHF14m in 2019 to develop new medicines for the treatment of advanced liver disease and cancer. This was followed in the summer of 2021 by a large Series B financing with around US-$67m and the inclusion of further investors.

Now, Alentis has announced a whopping US-$105m in Series C funding. The financing round was led by Jeito Capital together with Novo Holdings A/S and RA Capital Management, with participation from existing investors such as BB Pureos Bioventures, Bpifrance through its InnoBio 2 fund, Schroders Capital and HTGF from Germany.

Alentis is the only company developing potential treatments for solid cancers and fibrosis targeting Claudin-1 (CLDN1). The molecule is significantly involved in the “tight junction” between cells. Overexpression can lead to fibrotic or tumorous growth and is expected to be returned to normal by the company’s antibodies. Also combinations with antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are in development. First data in phase-1 just showed activity and no toxicity.

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