ImCheck Therapeutics Secures $53 Million Series B Financing to Advance ICT01 into Phase 1 Clinical Trials

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) has learned that on December 4, 2019, ImCheck Therapeutics, a biotechnology company headquartered in Marseille, France, announced the completion of a $53 million (€48 million) Series B financing round. The round was co-led by Pfizer Venture Investments and Bpifrance, with participation from Wellington Partners, Agent Capital, Alexandria Venture Investments, LSP, Gimv, Idinvest Partners, Kurma Partners, and Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund.

It is reported that ImCheck Therapeutics plans to use the funds to support Phase 1 clinical trials of its monoclonal antibody ICT01, further expanding the company’s portfolio of immunomodulators targeting the B7 and TNF receptor (BTN) superfamily, and advancing additional immuno-oncology antibody programs into clinical development.

Following the completion of this funding round, Michael Baran from Pfizer Ventures, Thibaut Roulon from Bpifrance, Regina Hodits from Wellington Partners, Rémi Droller from Kurma Partners, Vincent Brichard from LSP, and Bram Vanparys from Gimv will join the Board of Directors of ImCheck Therapeutics. Additionally, Debasish Roychowdhury will serve as Independent Chairman of the Board, and Pierre d’Epenoux will serve as Chief Executive Officer.

Under the leadership of CEO Pierre d'Epenoux, ImCheck Therapeutics is developing a first-in-class antibody to activate gamma delta T cells across multiple cancer indications, as well as a pipeline of novel immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases.

The company benefits from the support of Professor Daniel Olive of the Paoli Calmettes Institute and Aix-Marseille University, a global leader in research on gamma delta T cells and butyrophilin molecules. Leveraging the expertise of its management team and commitments from life sciences-focused investors, ImCheck’s translational research platform—where the company conducts discovery and development of next-generation therapeutic antibodies—has received funding from the European Regional Development Fund.

Pfizer Venture Investments (PV), the investment arm of Pfizer Inc., was established in 2004 to invest in areas of current or future strategic interest to Pfizer. The firm primarily focuses on potential translational therapies, with an emphasis on Pfizer’s core therapeutic areas: inflammation and immunology, internal medicine, oncology, rare diseases, and vaccines.

Bpifrance is an investment bank in France. It is a joint venture between two public entities: Caisse des Dépôts and “EPIC BPI-Groupe.” Its investment types include debt, early-stage venture capital, grants, private equity, and seed funding. Due to its size, the bank is directly supervised by the European Central Bank.

(Compiled by: Xiong Hui)