Philogen SpA raises €62m to push registration

The VC-independent company founded by Dario Neri (ETH Zürich) in 1996 develops proprietary and partnered immunocytokines, that is antibody-cytokine fusion proteins targeting vacular markers expressed around blood vessels that newly form in vicinity of tumours or sites of inflammation, i.e splice variants of extracellular matrix components such as fibronectin or tenascin-C.

With the proceeds, Siena-based Philogen wants to push registration of two products that are currently in Phase III development: the L19-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) immune cytokine fibromun, which allows targeted delivery in metastatic soft tissue sarcoma, and the L19-interleukin 2 fusion protein daromun, which is developed in maglinant melanoma. L19 is an antibody fragment targeting Fibronectin Extradomain B.

Furthermore, the company announced it will advance the development of its four clinical and three preclinal programmes including  guided IL12, IL4 and IL10 missiles and will use the capital increase expand Philogen’s GMP facilities, enabling large scale production of antibody products..

Philogen’s current partnerships include AbbVie Inc., Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, Celgene Corp., Johnson & Johnson Inc, Novartis AG, Pfizer Inc, and Servier, but can only partly finance commercialisation of Philogen's proprietary pipeline. With the financingGenerali’s Roberto Marsella, Roberto Ferraresi, and Guido Guidi entered Philogen's board.