Alentis Therapeutics raises US$181.4m in Series D financing

Five years old Swiss Altenis Therapeutics‘ Series D financing round was led by OrbiMed with co-leads Novo Holdings and Jeito Capital. New investors Frazier Life Sciences, Longitude Capital, Catalio Capital, Piper Heartland Healthcare Capital and Avego Bioscience Capital participated. Significant backing was also received from existing investor RA Capital Management, along with support from Morningside Venture Investments, BB Pureos, Bpifrance through its InnoBio 2 fund.

Alentis Therapeutics said it will use the proceeds to advance its pipeline of antibodies and antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) targeting claudin 1 (CLDN1)-positive solid tumours. “We‘re excited to execute our development strategy and deliver clinical data for our programmes over the next 12-18 months,” said Roberto Iacone, Chief Executive Officer of Alentis. 

Particularly, the proceeds will be used to conduct Phase I/II clinical trials of two still preclinical ADC programmes dubbed ALE.P02 and ALE.P03, further development of the pipeline, and general corporate purposes. The FDA recently cleared an IND application for a Phase I/II clinical trial of ALE.P02, which links an anti-CLDN1 antibody to a classical tubulin inhibitor, in CLDN1+ advanced or metastatic squamous solid tumours. This clinical trial is expected by the company to commence Q1 2025. For ALE.P03, that carries a topoisomerase I blocker as toxic payload, a first-inhuman trial in patients with CLDN1+ tumors is planned to start later next year. 

Among Claudin 18 and Claudin 6, CLDN1 is a previously unexploited target that plays a key role in the pathology of cancer and fibrotic disease.

In healthy cells, Claudin-1 is hidden within tight junctions where its normal function is to bind cells together. In many solid tumors, Claudin-1 is overexpressed and exposed outside tight junctions. Exposed Claudin-1 drives the buildup of extracellular matrix, forming a physical collagen barrier around solid tumoursn shielding the tumour from immune cell attacks and protects it from cancer immunotherapies with checkpoint blockers.