Alderaan Biotechnology raise €18.5m in Series A financing

The Paris-based company develops therapeutic antibodies that might deplete regulatory T (Treg) cells and activate Natural Killer (NK) cells of the innate immune system in order to overcome immune tolerance of solid tumours. Alderaan Biotechnology said it will use the assets to advance its preclinical anti-CD25-specific antibodies towards IND and subsequent Phase I safety testing by 2022. Furthermore, the financing will help validate the in vivo therapeutic potential Alderaan’s second programme,  which is focussed on activation of the NK cell receptor CD160-TM.

Both programmes originate in discoveries of the company’s founders, Armand Bensussan, head of the Skin Research Centre, Saint Louis Hospital, Paris, and Daniel Olive, head of the Immunity and Cancer team at Institut Paoli Calmette, Marseille. Upon the finanancing, Michèle Ollier (Medicxi) and Matthieu Coutet (AFB) entered  the board of Alderaan Biotechnology.

“Modulating regulatory T-cells in cancer has a great therapeutic potential in oncology," said Arnaud Foussat, CEO of Alderaan Biotechnology, "Our NK asset is earlier stage, but there is already a strong and
encouraging interest from the pharmaceutical industry in the field.”