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Gene&Cell Therapy >> Attovia reels in $105M from crossover investors to run multiple trials of I&I biologics: California biotech Attovia Therapeutics is back with a $105 million Series B just 11 months after unveiling with $60 million. The Fremont-based startup eyes a series of clinical trials in the crowded inflammation and immunology field with the new money. It will enter human studies in the coming months for its lead program in atopic dermatitis and bring a second biologic into the clinic next year. Overall, the money will bankroll the first two assets through Phase 1 and into Phase 2, as well as take a third discovery program into the clinic, CEO Tao Fu told Endpoints News. Fu highlighted the “crossover” profile of investors in its Goldman Sachs-led Series B, which gives Attovia “flexibility” in determining whether the public markets are its next step. While the IPO window is still largely shut, the drumbeat of large, nine-figure financings has been almost endless so far in 2024. Attovia’s financing, revealed Thursday morning, represents the 37th such megaround disclosed by a drug developer so far this year, according to an Endpoints tally. Entering a crowded space Born out of precision proteomics company Alamar Biosciences, Attovia will largely focus on inflammation and immunology, or I&I, an area of biopharma R&D that has picked up steam thanks to some high-profile acquisitions and a string of approvals. In the lead at Attovia is ATTO-1310, an anti-IL-31 biologic that the biotech will test for eczema and other pruritic diseases. The FDA and European Medicines Agency are both currently reviewing an approval application for an IL-31 inhibitor. Those regulators, and ones in four other countries, are also reviewing Galderma’s anti-IL-31 monoclonal antibody nemolizumab for both prurigo nodularis and atopic dermatitis. The dermatology company, which went public earlier this year, licensed the asset from Chugai Pharmaceutical in 2016. Attovia hopes to create a less frequent treatment option. Galderma’s was delivered every four weeks in clinical trials. Attovia believes ATTO-1310, also an under-the-skin treatment, can be dosed every three months based on non-human primate data, Fu said. The biotech thinks it can do so with biparatopic nanobodies. Its molecule binds to two sites on the same protein targets, which Attovia believes will get the antibody to bind more tightly to the target and lead to greater specificity. Even if one arm falls off, the other will still be clinging on. The biotech’s second program, named ATTO-002, goes after both IL-31 and IL-13. “We basically built two best-in-class single binders into one molecule,” Fu said. Attovia will choose a development candidate in the second half of this year and file an IND next year, it said. It will explore undisclosed immune-mediated diseases. Sanofi… #lucidquest #genetherapy #celltherapy
