CellCentric raises $120m from global backers to advance drug for multiple myeloma
The financing was co-led by RA Capital Management in Boston US and new investor Forbion in the Netherlands with participation from US-based Avego Bioscience Capital, as well as BrightEdge, the American Cancer Society’s venture capital and impact investment arm.
Alongside this new raise, the company has achieved several significant milestones, including an initial $35 million investment from RA Capital last year, a $25m strategic investment from Pfizer and opening a new office in Burlington, MA, just outside Boston, to expand the company's global presence globally.
Specifically, the proceeds will be used to support:-
- Initiation of a Phase II/III study in heavily pretreated multiple myeloma patients, with the potential to support an accelerated approval
- Development activities for a Phase III program, to start mid-2026
- Initiation of trials, starting Q2 2025, including the combination of inobrodib with bi-specific antibodies, as well as inobrodib in a maintenance setting.
Despite significant recent progress in treating multiple myeloma, the majority of patients still succumb to the disease. A large number of patients are not eligible for, or become resistant to, the latest therapies. Inobrodib’s truly novel mechanism of action, oral delivery, and favourable safety profile make it an attractive additional option. It has the potential to become an agent used across multiple settings, with different combination agents.
Will West, CEO of CellCentric, says: "We are delighted to secure the investment required to continue to advance inobrodib fully and as effectively as possible. This is a significant raise in a challenging market. Today's announcement is a testament to the data we have in hand, the clear clinical and commercial opportunity inobrodib represents, and the strength of our expanded team."
Jasper Bos, General Partner at Forbion, who is joining the CellCentric Board, added: "CellCentric has developed an innovative and impactful therapy for multiple myeloma with inobrodib, a first-in-class oral p300/CBP inhibitor.
"This novel agent has demonstrated promising efficacy and a manageable safety profile in early clinical trials. We are enthusiastic about supporting CellCentric as it advances inobrodib into registration studies, aiming to transform multiple myeloma treatment across various stages of the disease.”
In 2023, the FDA granted Fast Track and orphan drug designation to inobrodib for treating relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. Last year, CellCentric released promising efficacy and safety data at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting.
CellCentric was spun out from the University of Cambridge, by pioneering developmental biologist Professor Azim Surani who wanted to further explore the potential of targeting cell fate control mechanisms.
