Apparently sourcing your experimental drug from the platform behind a mega-blockbuster will attract significant investor interest, as Antios Therapeutics Inc. demonstrated with a $96m series B financing on 12 April that will help advance development of ATI-2173 for hepatitis B. Antios can tie its drug’s heritage to the liver-targeting chemistry used by Pharmasset, Inc. in development of the hepatitis C mega-blockbuster sofosbuvir, and thinks the antiviral can be an important part of getting to a functional cure in hepatitis B.
CEO Greg Mayes told Scrip his company originally hoped to raise between $60m and $75m for its B round, but got investor interest that could have taken the financing as high as $115m. The Mendham, NJ-based firm will use the money to fund Phase IIa and Phase IIb studies of ATI-2173 – an oral, liver-targeted active site polymerase inhibitor nucleotide (ASPIN) – as monotherapy and in combination therapy for HBV. The firm raised a $25m series A led by Lumira Ventures and Domain Associates in 2018