Venture Capital Deals At A Glance
Company	Financing
Tubulis GmbH; Munich	The German firm said on 3 May that it closed a €60m ($63m) series B round, significantly sizing up from its €10.7m ($12.6m) series A round in 2020. (Also see "Finance Watch: Notable Neuroscience VC Deals Include Nura Bio’s $73m Launch" - Scrip, 4 August, 2020.) Tubulis said it will advance its lead antibody-drug conjugates for solid tumors toward the clinic and continue its research of novel payloads and identification of new cancer drug targets. (Also see "BIO-Europe Spring 2019: Newcomer Tubulis Tackles ADC Technology Shortcomings" - Scrip, 23 May, 2019.)
Apnimed; Cambridge, MA	After the company reported positive Phase II results in October for its obstructive sleep apnea therapy – AD109, which combines the selective antimuscarinic agent aroxybutynin with the selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor atomoxetine – Apnimed said on 4 May that it raised $62.5m to take the drug into Phase III and begin initial commercial planning. (Also see "Apnimed Moves Closer To Phase III With Sleep Apnea Drug" - Scrip, 13 October, 2021.)
Nuvig Therapeutics Inc.; Redwood City, CA	Nuvig launched on 11 May with $47m in series A financing to develop novel therapeutics that treat autoimmune diseases by inducing mechanisms of immune homeostasis without compromising normal immune function. The company is building a pipeline of protein therapeutics and has designed its clinical development strategy to quickly obtain proof-of-concept then rapidly expand into multiple autoimmune and inflammatory disease indications.
Domain Therapeutics S.A.; Strasbourg, France and Montreal	The French-Canadian firm said on 10 May that it closed a €39m ($42m) series A round to accelerate its immuno-oncology programs. Domain specializes in drugs that target G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) with the aim of bypassing immunosuppression mediated by GPCRs. The company will use its series A proceeds to begin clinical development of EP4R antagonist DT-9081, advance two programs – including an anti-CCR8 antibody – into the IND stage, and continue its discovery work for first-in-class assets.
Curebase; San Francisco	The decentralized clinical trial (DCT) platform company disclosed a $40m series B round on 5 May to fund the continued development of its end-to-end trial execution model, virtual and hybrid site capabilities, and full eClinical software platform. Curebase has raised $59m to date. Gilead Sciences, Inc. invested in the series B round.
Artax Biopharma Inc.; Cambridge, MA	Artax revealed a $26m financing on 11 May to finance development of its oral small molecule AX-158, which is being tested in healthy volunteers in a Phase I clinical trial. The immunomodulating agent is a Nck SH3.1 domain inhibitor that works by selectively modulating inappropriate T-cell activation in autoimmune diseases, treating T-cell-mediated diseases without immunosuppression. The company raised a $10m series B round to fund clinical development of a prior Nck inhibitor in 2015. (Also see "Out Of Stealth, Artax Hopes To Pioneer Nck Targeting In Autoimmune Disease" - Pink Sheet, 22 September, 2015.)
Engimmune Therapeutics AG; Basel, Switzerland	Engimmune – whose platform combines genome editing, functional screening, deep sequencing and machine learning to develop potent and specific T-cell receptor (TCR) therapies – said on 3 May that it raised CHF15.5m ($16.7m) in seed financing. The company initially will develop its TCR therapeutics for cancer but may expand into autoimmune diseases.
BioGenCell; Netanya, Israel	The company, which has a technology platform for using stem cells from patients’ own blood to treat microvascular diseases, revealed a $16m seed financing on 9 May. BioGenCell’s lead program is for the treatment of critical limb ischemia. The firm will take this program into Phase II clinical trials based on the successful treatment of nine patients in a Phase I study.
InxMed Co., Ltd.; Nanjing, China	Hyfinity Investments provided InxMed with $15m in a series B+ financing announced on 8 May, just one month after the company announced a $50m series B round led by CS Capital. (Also see "RNA-Based Therapies Back In Spotlight As Chinese Biotechs Raise $366m" - Scrip, 8 April, 2022.) InxMed is developing cancer therapies that target the stroma microenvironment and drug resistance in hard-to-treat solid tumors. The new funding will help the company accelerate trials in the US and China for FAK inhibitor IN10018, including initiation of a pivotal study later this year, and support other programs.
Genascence Corporation; Palo Alto, CA	Pacira BioSciences, Inc. led a $10.5m series A round that Genascence announced on 10 May. The proceeds will fund ongoing clinical development of GNSC-001, which has completed a small single-arm Phase I trial in nine patients with osteoarthritis. GNSC-001 is a recombinant adeno-associated viral vector carrying a coding sequence for an interleukin-1 (IL-1) receptor antagonist to inhibit IL-1 signaling associated with inflammation with a single injection.

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