LSP Portfolio Company Artios Announces $ 153 Million (£ 110 Million) Series C Financing



  • Funding propels Artios’ ability to progress beyond synthetic lethality and to continue the exploitation of the full spectrum of oncology vulnerabilities presented by the DNA Damage Response through deployment of Artios’ DDR-based platform and small molecule drug discovery capabilities
  • Financing supports expansion of potentially best-in-class ATR inhibitor and first-in-class highly selective Polθ inhibitor programs by enabling clinical development in multiple tumor settings and biological backgrounds of single agent and combination therapies 

 

Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 27 July 2021 - LSP, one of Europe’s leading life sciences and health care investors, today announced that its LSP 6 portfolio company Artios Pharma Limited (Artios), a leading DNA Damage Response (DDR) company, completed a $ 153 million (£ 110 million) Series C financing to fund further development of its promising clinical-stage pipeline.

 

The oversubscribed financing was co-led by Omega Funds and TCG X. Additional investors include Avidity Partners, Invus, Deep Track Capital, Sofinnova Partners, Tetragon Financial Group, RTW Investments LP, Soleus Capital, Piper Heartland Healthcare Capital, CaaS Capital Management, and Schroders Capital. These new investors join existing investors Arix Bioscience plc, SV Health Investors, Andera Partners, LSP, M Ventures, Pfizer Ventures, IP Group plc, and Novartis Venture Fund who also continue to support Artios through their participation.

 

In connection with the close of the Series C financing, Michelle Doig, Partner, Head of Corporate Development, Omega Funds and Chen Yu, Founding Managing Partner, TCG X, will join Artios’ Board of Directors.

 

Dr. René Kuijten, Managing Partner at LSP and Board Member of Artios, said: “The Artios’ team has succeeded in creating the world’s leading DNA repair drug discovery and biology platform. The new blue chip investors joining us further validate Artios’ leading position propelling Artios to the next inflection point. The financing is the result of the outstanding performance of the team and we are excited to support Artios’ vision of bringing innovative life-saving medicines to patients.”

 

Dr. Niall Martin, Chief Executive Officer, Artios, said: “We are thrilled to have such great investors support our vision in this latest Series C fundraise co-led by Omega Funds and TCG X alongside a premier group of new and existing investors. This is an exciting time for Artios as we continue to progress our potential best-in-class ATR program in the clinic and prepare to launch our Polθ program into first-in-human studies in the second half of 2021. By ensuring that our DDR platform and pipeline programs are well-funded, we have successfully cleared a runway to execute our near-term clinical objectives. Having this caliber of strategic investors supporting our mission to bring next-generation DDR programs targeting hard to treat cancers to market adds further validation to Artios’ cancer-killing DDR Platform.”

 

Artios is actively developing a pipeline of highly promising potentially best-in-class and first-in-class DDR therapies identified from a global network of leading researchers in the DDR field, including through Cancer Research UK. The inhibition of novel DNA repair targets, like Polθ, in tumors where DNA damage response factors have been lost or down regulated will lead to cancer cells being selectively destroyed without harming normal cells. This creates an opportunity for such products to be used with existing and future therapies to kill cancer.

 

This financing follows an $ 84 million (£ 65 million) Series B fundraise concluded in August 2018 and yields total capital raised to date from investors and strategic partners of more than $ 320 million.

 

About Artios Pharma Limited
Artios is a leading DNA Damage Response (DDR) company focused on developing first-in-class treatments for cancer. The Company is led by an experienced scientific and leadership team with proven expertise in DDR drug discovery, including the discovery and early development of the PARP inhibitor Olaparib. It has a unique partnership with Cancer Research UK (CRUK), and collaborations with leading DNA repair researchers worldwide, such as The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), London, the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI) and the Crick Institute, London. Artios is building a pipeline of next-generation DDR programs to target hard to treat cancers, including its ATR inhibitor ART0380 in treating DDR defective tumors, which is in a Phase 1 clinical study, and the potential first-in-class Polθ inhibitor ART4215 for monotherapy and combination treatments. In December 2020, Artios entered into a collaboration agreement with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany to identify and develop precision oncology medicines targeting nucleases. Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany has the right to opt into exclusive development and commercialization of compounds on up to eight targets with Artios to receive up to $ 860 million total milestones per target. In April 2021, Artios entered into a collaboration with Novartis to identify DDR targets to use with Novartis’ proprietary radioligand therapies with Artios receiving a $ 20 million up-front payment in addition to near term research funding to support the collaboration. Artios is eligible to receive up to $ 1.3 billion in discovery, development, regulatory and sales-based milestones in addition to royalty payments. Artios is based at the Babraham Research Campus in Cambridge, UK, with an office in New York City, USA.
 
 
About LSP
LSP is one of the largest European investment firms providing financing for life sciences and health care companies. LSP’s management has raised over € 2.7 billion ($ 3.2 billion) and supported the growth of 300 companies since it started to invest in 1988, including signature deals such as argenx, Crucell and Neuravi. With offices in Amsterdam, Munich and Boston, LSP currently has the possibility to invest through five strategies, each having a distinctive investment scope and a dedicated team: LSP 6 invests in private early- to late-stage drug development and medical technology companies; LSP HEF 2 focuses on private late-stage medical technology companies; the LSP Dementia Fund invests in companies targeting neurodegenerative diseases; LSP Public targets public healthcare companies; and EBAC is the first healthcare SPAC to exclusively focus on European biotech. LSP is an active contributor to the global life sciences industry and the European life science eco-system by assuming for-profit and not-for-profit roles as initiators, founders and board members in various private and public bodies and organizations, for example being founder and board member of the Oncode Institute. For more information: lspvc.com.
 
 
For further info please contact:
Dr. René Kuijten, Managing Partner LSP 
+31 20 6645500

 

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LSP Portfolio Company Artios Announces $ 153 Million (£ 110 Million) Series C Financing



  • Funding propels Artios’ ability to progress beyond synthetic lethality and to continue the exploitation of the full spectrum of oncology vulnerabilities presented by the DNA Damage Response through deployment of Artios’ DDR-based platform and small molecule drug discovery capabilities
  • Financing supports expansion of potentially best-in-class ATR inhibitor and first-in-class highly selective Polθ inhibitor programs by enabling clinical development in multiple tumor settings and biological backgrounds of single agent and combination therapies 

 

Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 27 July 2021 - LSP, one of Europe’s leading life sciences and health care investors, today announced that its LSP 6 portfolio company Artios Pharma Limited (Artios), a leading DNA Damage Response (DDR) company, completed a $ 153 million (£ 110 million) Series C financing to fund further development of its promising clinical-stage pipeline.

 

The oversubscribed financing was co-led by Omega Funds and TCG X. Additional investors include Avidity Partners, Invus, Deep Track Capital, Sofinnova Partners, Tetragon Financial Group, RTW Investments LP, Soleus Capital, Piper Heartland Healthcare Capital, CaaS Capital Management, and Schroders Capital. These new investors join existing investors Arix Bioscience plc, SV Health Investors, Andera Partners, LSP, M Ventures, Pfizer Ventures, IP Group plc, and Novartis Venture Fund who also continue to support Artios through their participation.

 

In connection with the close of the Series C financing, Michelle Doig, Partner, Head of Corporate Development, Omega Funds and Chen Yu, Founding Managing Partner, TCG X, will join Artios’ Board of Directors.

 

Dr. René Kuijten, Managing Partner at LSP and Board Member of Artios, said: “The Artios’ team has succeeded in creating the world’s leading DNA repair drug discovery and biology platform. The new blue chip investors joining us further validate Artios’ leading position propelling Artios to the next inflection point. The financing is the result of the outstanding performance of the team and we are excited to support Artios’ vision of bringing innovative life-saving medicines to patients.”

 

Dr. Niall Martin, Chief Executive Officer, Artios, said: “We are thrilled to have such great investors support our vision in this latest Series C fundraise co-led by Omega Funds and TCG X alongside a premier group of new and existing investors. This is an exciting time for Artios as we continue to progress our potential best-in-class ATR program in the clinic and prepare to launch our Polθ program into first-in-human studies in the second half of 2021. By ensuring that our DDR platform and pipeline programs are well-funded, we have successfully cleared a runway to execute our near-term clinical objectives. Having this caliber of strategic investors supporting our mission to bring next-generation DDR programs targeting hard to treat cancers to market adds further validation to Artios’ cancer-killing DDR Platform.”

 

Artios is actively developing a pipeline of highly promising potentially best-in-class and first-in-class DDR therapies identified from a global network of leading researchers in the DDR field, including through Cancer Research UK. The inhibition of novel DNA repair targets, like Polθ, in tumors where DNA damage response factors have been lost or down regulated will lead to cancer cells being selectively destroyed without harming normal cells. This creates an opportunity for such products to be used with existing and future therapies to kill cancer.

 

This financing follows an $ 84 million (£ 65 million) Series B fundraise concluded in August 2018 and yields total capital raised to date from investors and strategic partners of more than $ 320 million.

 

About Artios Pharma Limited
Artios is a leading DNA Damage Response (DDR) company focused on developing first-in-class treatments for cancer. The Company is led by an experienced scientific and leadership team with proven expertise in DDR drug discovery, including the discovery and early development of the PARP inhibitor Olaparib. It has a unique partnership with Cancer Research UK (CRUK), and collaborations with leading DNA repair researchers worldwide, such as The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), London, the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI) and the Crick Institute, London. Artios is building a pipeline of next-generation DDR programs to target hard to treat cancers, including its ATR inhibitor ART0380 in treating DDR defective tumors, which is in a Phase 1 clinical study, and the potential first-in-class Polθ inhibitor ART4215 for monotherapy and combination treatments. In December 2020, Artios entered into a collaboration agreement with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany to identify and develop precision oncology medicines targeting nucleases. Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany has the right to opt into exclusive development and commercialization of compounds on up to eight targets with Artios to receive up to $ 860 million total milestones per target. In April 2021, Artios entered into a collaboration with Novartis to identify DDR targets to use with Novartis’ proprietary radioligand therapies with Artios receiving a $ 20 million up-front payment in addition to near term research funding to support the collaboration. Artios is eligible to receive up to $ 1.3 billion in discovery, development, regulatory and sales-based milestones in addition to royalty payments. Artios is based at the Babraham Research Campus in Cambridge, UK, with an office in New York City, USA.
 
 
About LSP
LSP is one of the largest European investment firms providing financing for life sciences and health care companies. LSP’s management has raised over € 2.7 billion ($ 3.2 billion) and supported the growth of 300 companies since it started to invest in 1988, including signature deals such as argenx, Crucell and Neuravi. With offices in Amsterdam, Munich and Boston, LSP currently has the possibility to invest through five strategies, each having a distinctive investment scope and a dedicated team: LSP 6 invests in private early- to late-stage drug development and medical technology companies; LSP HEF 2 focuses on private late-stage medical technology companies; the LSP Dementia Fund invests in companies targeting neurodegenerative diseases; LSP Public targets public healthcare companies; and EBAC is the first healthcare SPAC to exclusively focus on European biotech. LSP is an active contributor to the global life sciences industry and the European life science eco-system by assuming for-profit and not-for-profit roles as initiators, founders and board members in various private and public bodies and organizations, for example being founder and board member of the Oncode Institute. For more information: lspvc.com.
 
 
For further info please contact:
Dr. René Kuijten, Managing Partner LSP 
+31 20 6645500

 

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