Adaptimmune Raises $104m in Venture Capital

adaptimmune-logoAdaptimmune, an Oxford, UK-based biotechnology company, raised $104m in venture capital.

The round was led by New Enterprise Associates with participation from new investors OrbiMed Advisors, Wellington Management Company, Fidelity Biosciences, Foresite Capital Management, Ridgeback Capital Management, Novo A/S, QVT, Rock Springs Capital, venBio Select and Merlin Nexus.

The company intends to use the funds to advance its programs to clinical trials against multiple types of cancer.

Dr. Jonathan Knowles, Chairman and James Noble, Chief Executive Officer, Adaptimmune focuses on the use of T-cell therapy to treat cancer and infectious disease. Its therapies work by re-engineering the patient’s own T-cells – a type of white blood cell – to target and destroy cancerous or infected cells.
The company is running trials across the United States in multiple myeloma, melanoma, sarcoma and ovarian cancer – and its work was endorsed in June when it signed a deal with GlaxoSmithKline worth up to $350m.
GSK signed the deal six weeks after agreeing to sell its existing cancer drugs to Novartis.

FinSMEs

25/09/2014

Join the discussion