Hx Bio invests in Abalos Therapeutics to develop an arenavirus-based immunotherapy against cancer

Abalos Therapeutics announced today an extension to its Series A funding round bringing the total raised in this round to EUR 43 million (USD 50 million). The extension was led by Seventure Partners with support from Coparion, Ventura BioMed Investors and Hx Bio Ventures as well as contributions from existing investors from the initial Series A round including Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (BIVF), Gründerfonds Ruhr, NRW.BANK and High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF). The financing underscores the potential of Abalos’ differentiated immuno-virotherapy approach to generate a maximal immune response specifically targeted against a patient’s cancer and its metastases. The proceeds will enable the company to advance its first product candidate into a Phase 1/2 trial in multiple solid tumors including the expansion cohorts to demonstrate early signs of clinical efficacy as well as fund further pipeline expansion.

“Since the closing of our initial Series A financing round, we have achieved significant progress in the development of our product candidates and built a leadership team of drug development and immuno-oncology experts that support our goal of bringing this unique therapeutic modality to cancer patients,” said Dr. Marcus Kostka, CEO of Abalos Therapeutics. “We value this commitment from our new and current investors that will enable our lead arenavirus-based program to enter clinical evaluation with the goal of establishing clinical proof of concept.”

“Abalos is developing a powerful new class of immuno-virotherapeutics to treat cancer. Their product candidates have the potential to treat a range of solid cancers and also to increase the effect of approved immuno-oncology drugs,” said Annegret de Baey, Venture Partner at Seventure Partners.

“We are very excited to see such a distinct approach in the crowded immuno-oncology space and look forward to supporting the Abalos leadership team as they continue on the journey of developing a pipeline of candidates that could greatly improve the immune system’s ability to identify hard-to-treat tumors and elicit a long-term anti-tumor immune response,” added Isabelle de Cremoux, CEO and Managing Partner at Seventure.

Abalos was launched in October 2019 to advance a technology platform that harnesses the unique features of the lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV), which specifically targets tumor cells. Through its proprietary Fast Evolution Platform, Abalos is generating variants with optimized anti-tumoral properties to trigger a highly precise and directed immune response that can be utilized for distant metastases and enable long-term disease control.

In conjunction with the closing of the Series A financing round extension, Annegret de Baey from Seventure Partners and Sebastian Pünzeler from Coparion will join Abalos’ Supervisory Board

About Abalos Abalos:

Therapeutics has harnessed the unique immune stimulation of the arenavirus to develop a novel anti-cancer approach that provides the full breadth of the immune system’s power specifically against cancer cells. Through viral replication within cancer cells, Abalos’ arenavirus-based drug candidates are designed to awake precise innate and adaptive immune responses and activate all relevant immune cell types against primary tumors and metastases. Led by experienced biotech entrepreneurs and immunology pioneers, Abalos’ goal is to achieve a quantum leap in immuno-oncology. For more information, please visit www.abalostx.com.

About Hx Bio Ventures

Hx Bio Ventures invests into early-stage biotech companies developing next generation vaccines and therapeutics. It is Hx’s mission to help exceptional entrepreneurs building the next generation of great companies creating innovative products to improve human health. With a clear focus on know-how in drug development and their manufacturability, Hx Bio intends to partner with biotech innovators looking to derisk their development processes early on. Hx Bio Ventures is part of the family-owned Droege Group, based in Düsseldorf, Germany.