Naarden, The Netherlands - 16 March 2022 – Forbion, a leading European life sciences venture capital firm, today announces that it co-led an EUR 80m Series B financing in Precirix NV, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing precision radiopharmaceuticals in oncology, together with INKEF Capital and Jeito Capital.
Forbion invested from its Growth Opportunities Fund I which provides three distinct investment strategies: private growth capital for clinical stage development assets, cross-over capital to companies aiming to pursue a public listing in the near-term, as well as capital injections that support existing under-valued public companies.
Ruth Devenyns, CEO of Precirix commented: "We are delighted to announce this major milestone and are grateful for the strong investor support. The addition of Inkef, Jeito and Forbion, three leading VC funds in the healthcare sector, significantly reinforces our international shareholder base. The investment will allow Precirix to accelerate its growth trajectory and to further validate and broaden the technology platform."
Jasper Bos, General Partner at Forbion: “After completing a mapping exercise of the fast-emerging radiopharmaceuticals space, Precirix stood out because of the robustness and versatility of its platform which brings together several unique features and facilitates the development of radiolabelled single-domain antibodies (sdAbs) for multiple targets, in combination with different isotopes.”
The company's lead product candidate, CAM-H2, is currently in a Phase I/II study for the treatment of HER2-positive metastatic breast and gastric cancer. The study allows inclusion of patients with brain metastases, a population in urgent need of effective therapies. Initial imaging data provide confidence in the potential of CAM-H2 to address the unmet medical need in this population. Patients are now being enrolled in the second cohort of the dose-escalation phase, following the absence of any dose-limiting toxicities in the first cohort and a positive review from the Safety Review Committee.
The proceeds of this financing round will fund the development and expansion of Precirix's pipeline. More specifically, the company will advance CAM-H2 through its ongoing Phase I/II study and plans to bring additional novel radiopharmaceuticals to the clinic. Precirix will also focus on further strengthening the platform, using its potential to generate new product candidates, linkers, and CMC processes.
Jasper Bos will join Precirix's Board of Directors in addition to Simone Botti of INKEF and Sabine Dandiguian of Jeito.
The company's existing shareholders Gimv, HealthCap, Novo Holdings, Pontifax Venture
Capital, V-Bio Ventures, BioMed Partners, as well as the seed investors, continue to support the company having all participated in the round.
-Ends-
For more information please contact:
Forbion
Laura Asbjornsen
Email: laura.asbjornsen@forbion.com
Consilium Strategic Communications
Ashley Tapp, Sue Charles
Email: forbion@consilium-comms.com
Tel: +44 (0)20 3709 5700
Notes to Editor
About Forbion
Forbion is a dedicated life sciences venture capital firm with offices in The Netherlands, Germany, and Singapore. Forbion invests in life sciences companies that are active in the (bio-) pharmaceutical space. Forbion manages well over EUR 1.8 billion across multiple fund strategies that cover all stages of (bio-) pharmaceutical drug development. Forbion’s current team consists of over 30 life sciences investment professionals that have built an impressive performance track record since the late nineties with successful investments in 87 companies. The firm is a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment. Besides financial objectives, Forbion selects investments that will positively affect the health and well-being of patients. Its investors include the EIF, through its European Recovery Programme (ERP), LfA, Dutch Venture Initiative (DVI), AMUF and EFSI facilities and KfW Capital through the Programme, “ERP – Venture Capital Fonds investments.” Forbion operates a joint venture with BGV, the manager of seed and early-stage funds, especially focused on Benelux and Germany.
For more information, please visit: www.forbion.com