eTheRNA immunotherapies, a Niel, Belgium-based clinical-stage company developing immunotherapies from its proprietary mRNA TriMix platform for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases, raised Euro €34m in a Series B equity financing round.
All existing investors – LSP (the Netherlands), PMV (Belgium), Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (Germany), Fund+ (Belgium) and Omega Funds (USA) – are participating in the round. They are joined by Grand Decade, a BVI subsidiary owned by China Grand Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Holdings Ltd (‘GP(HK)’; HKSE Stock code 00512), BNP Paribas Fortis Private Equity (Belgium), Yijing Capital (China) and Novalis LifeSciences LLC (USA).
GP(HK) and eTheRNA have also agreed outline terms for a possible exclusive strategic partnership for mRNA manufacturing, independent research and development, production and commercialization in Greater China.
Proceeds of the financing will fund continued development and commercialization of proprietary mRNA technologies and a range of therapeutic products.
eTheRNA’s TriMix platform comprises three mRNAs encoding proteins that act together to increase immune responses. TriMix has demonstrated broad application across major cancer types, both preclinically and clinically, offering the prospect of therapeutic vaccines and localised tumor treatments acting synergistically with standard of care treatments. To facilitate its product development activities, the company has developed a proprietary lipid nanoparticle (LNP) platform to enable intravenous delivery of various (neo)antigens, which in combination with TriMix results in unprecedented immune responses. Not only will eTheRNA start clinical development of its internal programs for intravenous mRNA delivery, the company will also explore partnering opportunities. In infectious diseases, eTheRNA’s technologies are being deployed in an eTheRNA-led international consortium which is developing a cross-strain protective SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine for high risk populations.
FinSMEs
16/06/2020