UK-based biotech company Myricx Bio has secured £90m ($114m) in a Series A financing round jointly led by major life science investors Novo Holdings and Abingworth.
Myricx Bio’s founding investors Brandon Capital and Sofinnova Partners participated in the financing round, alongside new investors British Patient Capital, Cancer Research Horizons and Eli Lilly and Company.
British Patient Capital is a wholly owned commercial subsidiary of British Business Bank, the UK government’s economic development bank.
In connection with the financing, Michael Bauer from Novo Holdings and Lucille Conroy from Abingworth will be appointed as Myricx Board of Directors.
Novo Holdings Venture Investments group partner Michael Bauer said: “Myricx has gained unique insights into the biology of NMT and its orthogonal and differentiated mechanism.
“The scientific rationale behind its novel payload chemistry gives us confidence that NMTi-ADCs have the potential to greatly expand the current repertoire of ADC applications beyond the current standard-of-care payload classes, creating opportunities for new treatment options for patients.
“This investment reflects our strategy of investing in highly innovative and high-impact biotechs, and we look forward to supporting the progress of Myricx through the clinic.”
The British biotech company is focused on the discovery and development of a completely novel class of payloads for antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs).
It intends to use the funding to build out its in-house N-Myristoyltransferase inhibitor (NMTi) ADC payload platform and advance its portfolio of NMTi-ADCs through clinical proof of concept.
NMT is an enzyme that adds a specific lipid modification to several protein targets that are key to cancer cell survival.
Myricx Bio is advancing a pipeline of ADCs to address serious unmet needs in oncology, based on its NMTi payload chemistry platform.
They showed superior efficacy and safety in preclinical development across multiple solid tumour-associated antigens and cancer cell types, said the biotech company.
Myricx Bio CEO Robin Carr said: “I am truly grateful for the support of our founding investors Brandon Capital and Sofinnova Partners as we developed our initial NMT inhibitor chemistry and demonstrated the potential of NMTis as ADCs.
“I am delighted to welcome our new investors and thank them for their support as we enter our next phase of development.
“Myricx now has the resources to grow into a fully-fledged R&D company with our own laboratories, and an in-house R&D team with expanded management capabilities.
“Consequently, we are well positioned to build on our NMTi ADC platform and advance our pipeline as we become a clinical-stage company.”
