Multitude Therapeutics, Inc. (China)

Danish biotech Adcendo is joining the antibody-drug conjugate megaround train. Adcendo has corralled a $135 million Series B led by TCGX. And according to an Endpoints News tally, of the 88 biotech startups to raise a nine-figure financing round in 2024, 11 are working on ADCs. The Copenhagen-based biotech, which has partnerships with Multitude Therapeutics and Duality Biologics , is working on new types of ADCs and will enter the clinic “soon” with its first asset and again in early 2025 with its second experimental medicine in the hot class, CEO Michael Pehl told Endpoints News in an email. Adcendo could consider the public markets once it has early clinical data from those first two ADCs — a Topo1-based tissue factor-targeting ADC licensed from Multitude called ADCE-T02 and a uPARAP targeting pan-sarcoma ADC named ADCE-D01 . “We think that a US IPO, backed by a strong clinical data package from ADCE-T02 and ADCE-D01, is a very attractive option for Adcendo,” the CEO added. Prior to Adcendo, Pehl ran ADC biotech Immunomedics for a brief stretch from late 2017 until the spring of 2019 . Gilead bought Immunomedics in a deal worth $21 billion about 18 months later. The Series B will bring those two ADCs to clinical proof of concept, fund a dose-escalation study of another asset codenamed ADCE-B05 and take a fourth, dubbed A0401, to an IND filing, Pehl said. Adcendo is exploring work in the area of uPARAP, a collagen receptor that is overexpressed in cancers like soft-tissue sarcoma, osteosarcoma, mesothelioma and glioblastoma multiforme. The recycling endocytic receptor is viewed as a “highly efficient entry for ADCs” that target cells expressing the receptor, the company said. The 40-employee biotech was formed in 2017 as a spinout from the Finsen Laboratory of Rigshospitalet and the University of Copenhagen. It unveiled a $62 million Series A in April 2021 and topped that round off multiple times over the years, including another €16 million in May. In addition to TCGX, its new investors also include TPG Life Sciences Innovations , OrbiMed, Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners , Surveyor Capital and Logos Capital. All existing investors also took part in the Series B, including RA Capital Management, Novo Holdings and others.

Adcendo has secured an oversubscribed $135-million series B financing as the Copenhagen-based startup advances two new antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) candidates into clinical testing against hard-to-treat cancers in late 2024 and early 2025. Cariad Chester, managing partner at TCGX, which led the round, said Adcendo's programmes have "the potential to significantly change the treatment paradigm in multiple cancers."The financing will help support development of Adcendo's tissue factor-targeting ADC, dubbed ADCE-T02, which was acquired through a deal with Multitude Therapeutics worth up to $1 billion in biobucks.Tissue factor is highly expressed in indications such as non-small-cell lung, colorectal, cervical, oesophageal, head-and-neck, bladder and certain gastrointestinal cancers, but its expression is limited in normal tissues. ADCE-T02 features a topoisomerase I inhibitor-based linker/payload, with Adcendo suggesting that its design minimises the impact on the coagulation pathway. It is slated to enter the clinic this quarter.The funds will also go toward advancing ADCE-D01, which is directed against uPARAP, the first potential pan-sarcoma ADC target. It is strongly overexpressed in mesenchymal tumours such as soft-tissue sarcoma, bone sarcoma and gastrointestinal stromal tumours."The excitement in the ADC space paired with our team's experience and passion for the underlying science motivates us to continue pushing our programs forward into the clinic," said CEO Michael Pehl. The company is also developing ADCE-B05 in multiple squamous cancers and where an IND submission is due the second half of next year, as well as A0401 in epithelial cancers.The series B included participation from new investors TPG Life Sciences Innovations, Orbimed Advisors, Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, Surveyor Capital, and Logos Capital, as well as all existing investors, including RA Capital Management, Novo Holdings, Pontifax Venture Capital, Dawn Biopharma, a platform controlled by KKR, HealthCap, Gilde Healthcare and Ysios Capital.The round builds on Adcendo's previous funding, including an initial €51-million series A in 2021 and subsequent additions bringing that round to €98 million.

The funds will be used to support the clinical development of antibody drug conjugate (ADC) drugs. Credit: Malte Mueller via Getty Images. Denmark-based Adcendo is the latest biotech to secure funding in the antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) space, raising $135m to advance its portfolio of first-in-class ADCs into the clinic. Founded in 2017 as a spin-out from the University of Copenhagen and Rigshospitalet, Adcendo previously raised $102.8m (€98m) in an extended Series A funding round backed by Novo Holdings and RA Capital Management. This latest round, led by TCGX, is intended to accelerate the development of the biotech’s four ADC candidates. In October, Adcendo announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had cleared its investigational new drug (IND) application for a Phase I/II first-in-human trial of ADCE-D01. This ADC targets the UPABAR receptor in patients with metastatic and/or unresectable soft tissue sarcoma (STS). Earlier this year, Adcendo signed a $1bn agreement with Multitude Therapeutics for the ex-China rights to ADCE-T02, a preclinical candidate. The deal grants Adcendo global development and commercialisation rights, excluding Greater China (mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan). A Phase I trial for ADCE-T02 is scheduled to begin in Australia in Q4 2024, with plans for additional trials in the US and Europe. The company is also advancing two other ADC candidates, ADCE-B05 and A0401, with undisclosed targets. The ADC field has seen substantial growth , with companies investing billions to expand their pipelines. In October 2023, MSD and Daiichi Sankyo entered into a deal worth up to $22bn to develop and commercialise three ADC candidates: patritumab deruxtecan (HER3-DXd), ifinatamab deruxtecan (DLK-DXd), and raludotatug deruxtecan (R-DXd). In May 2024, AstraZeneca announced plans to construct a $1.5bn ADC manufacturing site in Singapore to bolster the global supply of ADCs. More than ten ADCs have received regulatory approval for the treatment of certain cancers. Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca’s ADC Enhertu (trastuzumab deruxtecan) secured its first approval in 2019 for the treatment of adult patients with unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer who have received two or more prior anti-HER2-based regimens in the metastatic setting. The blockbuster drug is now approved for more solid tumours and is set to generate up to $13bn in 2030, as per GlobalData’s consensus forecast. GlobalData is the parent company of Pharmaceutical Technology. Despite Enhertu’s success, pricing issues across the pond in the UK have limited its reach. Talks between the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), NHS England, and the drugmakers, failed to end in a negotiated fair price last week (20 November).