Achilles Therapeutics Secures £100 Million Series B Financing to Advance Personalized T-Cell Therapies Targeting Clonal Neoantigens

On September 2, 2019, VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) learned from foreign media reports that Achilles Therapeutics (Achilles), a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Stevenage, UK, announced the completion of its £100 million Series B financing round.

This funding round was led by RA Capital Management, with participation from Syncona Investment Management Limited, Forbion, Invus, Perceptive Advisors, and Redmile Group. Upon closing of the financing, Dr. Derek DiRocco, Head of RA Capital Management, and Dr. Rogier Rooswinkel, Partner at Forbion, will join the board of directors of Achilles Therapeutics.

Achilles plans to use the proceeds from this financing round to conduct clinical trials of its personalized T-cell therapy in humans. This therapy, primarily based on clonogenic neoantigens, is designed to treat non-small cell lung cancer and melanoma. In addition, Achilles will continue to enhance its manufacturing capabilities and expand its preclinical solid tumor product pipeline.

Achilles is developing personalized T-cell therapies for solid tumors, with clonal neoantigens serving as unique protein markers present on the surface of all cancer cells in each patient. Leveraging its PELEUS bioinformatics platform, the company can identify clonal neoantigens from the unique tumor characteristics present in every cancer cell of each patient. Achilles utilizes its proprietary manufacturing process to engineer T cells that precisely target a specific set of clonal neoantigens in each patient.

Achilles Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Stevenage, UK, specializing in the development of personalized cancer immunotherapies that harness the immune system to destroy cancer cells. These therapies target or clone trunk tumor neoantigens. These trunk neoantigens are generated during the early stages of carcinogenesis and are present on all cancer cells within an individual tumor but absent from healthy cells, thereby enabling scientists to target and eradicate tumors without damaging healthy tissue.

RA Capital Management is an investment management firm headquartered in Boston, USA, specializing in investments in the life sciences and drug development sectors. The team at RA Capital Management comprises professionals with training in biology, chemistry, and medicine.

Syncona is a UK investment trust company focused on investing in the life sciences sector. Established in October 2012, it is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

Forbion is a venture capital firm headquartered in the Netherlands, specializing in investments in life sciences companies focused on drug development. Forbion’s investment team comprises nine investment professionals and manages over €400 million in liquid assets.

Invus is a New York-headquartered venture capital firm managing over $8 billion in assets. The companyWith offices in Paris and Hong Kong.

Perceptive Advisors is a privately owned hedge fund headquartered in New York, USA. The firm specializes in investing in the biotechnology and life sciences sectors.

Redmile is a San Francisco-based asset management group focused on venture capital, growth equity, and cross-border investments in the healthcare sector.

(Compiled by Tian Shuhang)