Harbour BioMed Secures USD 85 Million In Financing Round To Support Clinical-Stage Compounds

Two years after closing an $85 million funding round, Cambridge, Mass.-based Harbour Biomed has raised another $75 million that will help accelerate the advancement of its clinical-stage compounds aimed at cancer and immunological diseases.

The latest financing round, which the company is calling a B-plus round, will drive the company’s clinical programs toward key milestones, Harbour said this morning. Jingsong Wang, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Harbour Biomed, said over the past several months, the company has made significant progress in advancing two assets toward mid-stage clinical trials in China and also began international clinical studies for its next-generation anti-CTLA-4 antibody, HBM4003, which is aimed at treatment of advanced solid tumors.

That progress the company made includes the launch of Phase I studies with HBM4003 for the treatment of advanced solid tumors. HBM4003 has shown potential in preclinical studies for increased anti-tumor activity based on enhanced antibody-dependent cell toxicity mediated Treg depletion and a favorable safety profile, the company said. Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Admiration approved the company’s Investigative New Drug Application to begin trials in the United States.

Harbour BioMed also began Phase II/II trials in China with HBM 9161, an anti-FcRn antibody, for the treatment of multiple severe, autoimmune diseases, including myasthenia gravis, adult immune thrombocytopenia, Graves’ ophthalmopathy and other related indications. The company also launched a Phase II trial of HBM9167, its humanized IgG1 monoclonal antibody targeting programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1), for the treatment of nasopharyngeal cancer.

“Our discovery efforts have also been extremely productive, both internally and in collaboration with leading organizations around the world. In addition to HBM4003, our innovative discovery platform HBICE has rapidly generated a robust portfolio of differentiated, fully human antibodies, including next-generation bi-and multi-specifics,” Wang said in a statement.

In addition to its pipeline, Wang noted that Harbour BioMed has aimed the power of its antibody discovery platform at COVID-19, the coronavirus disease that is spreading across the globe. The company entered into a collaboration with Mount Sinai Health System in New York. Harbour and Mount Sinai will use the H2L2 Harbour Mice platform to generate monoclonal antibodies against the coronavirus SARS CoV 2. The antibodies have the potential to prevent the spread of the virus by blocking infection of cells, the organizations announced.

The Series B-plus round was supported by new investors that include SK Holdings, Greater Bay Area Fund, Efung Capital, Zheshang Venture Capital and Zhejiang University Future Capital and JT New Century. They joined existing investors that include Legend Capital, AdvanTech and GIC Pvt. Ltd.-Bio Space