Adcendo, a clinical-stage biotech from Copenhagen, announced it has raised $75M of Series C funding to accelerate the clinical development of its pioneering cancer medicines. The financing was led by Jeito Capital with participation from new and existing global life sciences investors.
Adendo was founded in 2017 and is a company currently working on this emerging field, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). ADCs are a new and exciting class of targeted cancer therapy which aims to kill the tumour cells with the corresponding high-potency drug while leaving other tissues unaffected. The company has its operations in Denmark and Boston.
Advancing a Promising Drug Pipeline
Adcendo intends to employ the additional funds that it has just raised to push its pipeline of ADC candidates through important clinical milestones. Currently, the company is developing three lead programmes for various cancers.
Source: Adcendo
One of the front-running targets in this indication is the tissue factor. It is prevalent in many solid tumours, including colorectal, lung and pancreatic cancers. Another program, uPARAP, is associated with aggressive cancers, including soft tissue sarcoma. The third candidate out-licensed by the company is in the preclinical arena, with no target identified.
It is intended that the funding will support current and future phase 1 clinical trials, including dose escalation cohorts and expansion cohorts for the assessment of safety and efficacy in various cancer indications.
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The Growing Role of ADCs in Cancer Treatment
Antibody-drug conjugates are rapidly becoming one of the most promising approaches currently used in the modern-day field of oncology. This novel approach aims to combine the targeted properties of the antibody with the cytotoxicity of the chemotherapeutic agent in order to generate more efficacious cancer therapies with less overall toxicity.
This concept is gaining traction within the biotech and pharma industries, and recent high levels of investment and M&A activity highlight the growing confidence in the concept. Adcendo raised $135m in a Series B2 round, illustrating the interest investors have in their platform and pipeline.
Despite some progress, many cancers (especially advanced or orphan indications) still lack treatment options. Adcendo is hitting the “high unmet medical need” subset with its potentially first-in-class/best-in-class therapies.
Strong Investor Confidence in Oncology Innovation
The oversubscribed funding round demonstrated investors’ confidence in the technology and ADCs. Jeito Capital led the investment through its second fund, which has recently closed with around $1.2 billion of committed capital.
Joined in the round were new players, such as Vida Ventures, EIFO (Exploration and Investment Fund of Denmark) and Bpifrance, along with existing investors, such as RA Capital Management, Orbimed and Novo Holdings, indicating the faith of these investors in eventual long-term success.
The continued backing of the fund and supporters lends weight to the growing emphasis on finding effective targeted therapies, particularly for cancers where a relatively limited number of treatment options are available.
