Antios Therapeutics' hep B candidate gets another round of applause from investors, closing out a $171M megaround
03 Nov 2021
Antios Therapeutics, the Atlanta biotech that was the brainchild of former hep C pioneer Pharmasset executive and former Antios CEO Abel De La Rosa, announced
this morning
that the biotech raised $75 million in a Series B-1, ending the firm’s Series B round.
After the biotech threw its hat into the hepatitis B ring three years ago with $25 million from a Series A, Antios then raised $96 million from a Series B
in April
to push their lead candidate — an active site polymerase inhibitor nucleotide, or ASPIN known as ATI-2173 — through Phase II. The latest $75 million round brings the company’s Series B up to $171 million.
This financing round, co-led by young investment firm GordonMD Global Investments, will help push Antios’ lead candidate — in testing by itself and with tenofovir — to a Phase IIb trial to start next year. Other investors included RA Capital, LifeSci Venture Partners and Lumira Ventures.
Back in April, ATI-2173 was in a Phase IIa study in combination with approved HBV antiviral tenofovir. And according to Antios CEO Greg Mayes, the Phase IIb trial will start sometime in the second half of 2022.
“We would expect to complete the Phase IIb program in 2024,” Mayes told
Endpoints News.
Antios’ candidate is derived from an old Pharmasset drug called clevudine — which started out at Bukwang Pharmaceuticals before being licensed to Triangle in 1998. After buying out Triangle in 2003, Gilead transferred the rights back to Bukwang, which then licensed the drug to Pharmasset in 2005.
“We are pleased to add GordonMD Global Investments to our existing group of high-caliber healthcare investors,” Mayes said in a prepared statement. “This round of investment enables us to accelerate the Phase IIb clinical development of ATI-2173.”
In their press release, Antios also announced that GordonMD’s founder and CEO Craig Gordon will join Antios’ board of directors.
“We believe in the mission that Antios’ management and clinical teams are driving forward and are excited to be a part of their next phase of growth,” said GordonMD founder and CEO Craig Gordon in a statement.
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