Utrecht (the Netherlands) and Copenhagen (Denmark) – ADCendo ApS (“Adcendo”), a Danish biopharmaceutical company developing antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for the treatment of cancers, today announced the successful closing of a €51 million ($62 million) Series A financing. The global consortium of international investors in this largest ever Series A financing for a Danish biopharmaceutical company includes Gilde Healthcare, RA Capital Management, Ysios Capital, Novo Seeds and HealthCap.
The new financing will be used to establish a pipeline of ADCs directed at novel cancer targets and to bring the lead program targeting the novel cancer target uPARAP/Endo180 to proof of concept in patients.
Henrik Stage, Chief Executive Officer of ADCendo, says:
“In the last few years the ADC modality has delivered promising approvals of new drugs as well as significant commercial transactions. We are excited that we have secured this major financing from top tier investors and are looking forward to delivering on our vision of bringing new innovative treatments to cancer patients.”
ADCs are a class of highly potent biopharmaceutical drugs composed of an antibody linked, via a chemical linker, to a biologically active drug or cytotoxic compound. ADCs combine the unique and very sensitive targeting capabilities of antibodies, with the potent effects of the conjugated cytotoxic drugs, allowing sensitive discrimination between healthy and cancer tissues.
uPARAP is a unique novel cancer target overexpressed on the cell surface of several cancers. Being a collagen scavenger receptor that possesses constitutively active and highly efficient internalization and recycling properties, it has been demonstrated to play a role in tumor invasion. The expression and biological mechanisms of uPARAP makes it ideal for an ADC approach as it may be used as a cancer-associated “drug internalization pump” to bring conjugated drugs directly into the cancer cells.
It has been found to be overexpressed by cancer cells in several indications with high unmet needs including soft tissue sarcoma, glioblastoma multiforme, triple-negative breast cancers, leukemia and osteosarcoma, as well as by stromal cells in several high prevalence cancers with substantial stromal tissue content, such as prostate, breast and pancreatic cancer.
In addition to the uPARAP program, Adcendo will build a pipeline of additional novel cancer targets ideally suited to ADC approaches.
As part of the investment, the Board of Directors will be strengthened with representatives from the investors. Sanne de Jongh will join on behalf of Gilde Healthcare.
Media contacts:
LifeSci Advisors
Frank Schwarz – fschwarz@lifesciadvisors.com / +49 17 26 15 31 60
Gilde Healthcare
Sanne de Jongh – dejongh@gildehealthcare.com / +31 30 219 2565
About Adcendo ApS
Adcendo ApS (www.adcendo.dk), is a Danish biotech developing novel antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for treatment of cancers. It was founded in 2017 by scientists Niels Behrendt, Lars Henning Engelholm and Christoffer Nielsen from The Finsen Laboratory of Rigshospitalet and the University of Copenhagen, and Henrik Stage, a biotech-entrepreneur active in several biotech companies, and previously CEO/CFO of Santaris Pharma which was acquired by Roche in 2014. The scientific advisory board includes John Lambert PhD, the former CSO of ImmunoGen, Vincent de Groot PhD, Founder of the ADC company Syntarga, and Murray Yule MD, PhD, Oncologist experienced in translational oncology including ADCs.
About Gilde Healthcare
Gilde Healthcare (www.gildehealthcare.com) is a specialized healthcare investor with $1.8 billion under management across two fund strategies: Venture & Growth and Private Equity. The firm operates out of offices in Utrecht (The Netherlands), Frankfurt (Germany) and Cambridge (United States). The Venture & Growth fund of Gilde Healthcare invests in innovative companies active in (Bio)Pharmaceuticals, HealthTech and MedTech. The portfolio of the Venture & Growth fund is balanced with fast growing life science companies from Europe and North America.