German Biotech CatalYm Secures $150M Series D for Early-Stage Cancer Data

CatalYm has significantly bolstered its financial standing by securing $150 million in a series D funding round, nearly tripling the $49 million raised in its series C in late 2022. This financial boost comes in light of promising early-stage data for its monoclonal antibody, visugromab, which has shown notable and lasting responses in patients with difficult-to-treat cancers.

The German biotech firm aims to utilize this funding to further develop and extend phase 2b clinical trials into selected front-line and second-line treatment settings for checkpoint-naive patients. The company’s CEO, Phil L’Huillier, Ph.D., emphasized the ongoing impressive results visugromab has demonstrated in inducing cancer remission across several solid tumor indications. He highlighted the substantial potential visugromab holds in pioneering a new anti-cancer therapy regimen and expressed optimism about the support from both new and existing international investors.

Leading the funding round were new investors Canaan Partners and Bioqube Ventures, joined by Forbion Growth, Omega Funds, and Gilde Healthcare. Existing investors contributing additional funds included Jeito Capital, Brandon Capital Partners, Novartis Venture Fund, and Vesalius.

Visugromab operates by targeting growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15), an immunosuppressant typically deployed by fetal cells to avoid maternal immune attacks. In cancer scenarios, tumor cells exploit GDF-15 to shield themselves from the patient’s immune system, leading to the ineffectiveness of immunotherapies such as anti-PD-1 therapy.

At this year’s American Society of Clinical Oncology conference, CatalYm presented data from the GDFATHER trial. This trial investigates visugromab in combination with Bristol Myers Squibb's anti-PD-1 drug, Opdivo, in patients with non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), urothelial cancer, and hepatocellular cancer. These patients had previously been heavily pretreated and shown resistance to anti-PD-1 therapy. The study included about 20 patients per group, totaling 90 patients.

The trial results revealed an objective response rate of 16.7% across all tumor types for patients treated with visugromab, with four patients experiencing complete tumor disappearance. Furthermore, the average duration of response exceeded 15 months for NSCLC, with 77% of these responses still ongoing.

Jon Edwards, Ph.D., managing partner at Bioqube Ventures, highlighted their initial interest in the promising biology surrounding GDF-15 and acknowledged CatalYm’s leading position in this field. He expressed confidence in the approach's potential to significantly enhance response durability and depth, thus unlocking the full potential of immuno-oncology treatments. He conveyed enthusiasm about supporting CatalYm’s team in conducting thorough clinical studies across various promising indications.