The $15m Series B financing was led by Decheng Capital and the recent $58m Series C financing was led by 3E Bioventures Capital, Virtus Inspire Ventures, and SV Tech Ventures.
As a result of these financings, Apexigen’s Board of Directors was expanded to include Dan Zabrowski, Ph.D. of Decheng Capital, and Karen Liu, Ph.D. of 3E Bioventures Capital.
Apexigen intends to use these proceeds to advance the clinical development of its lead immuno-oncology (I-O) therapeutic APX005M, a monoclonal antibody targeting CD40.
Currently, APX005M is in multiple Phase 2 clinical trials to treat different types of cancers. The proceeds will also be used to discover and develop Apexigen’s broader pipeline of therapies.
Apexigen president and CEO Dr Xiaodong Yang said: “Completing these financings puts Apexigen on a new trajectory for growth. We now have the resources to both execute our clinical development strategy for APX005M and accelerate building our pipeline of novel therapeutics based on our proprietary product discovery platform APXiMAB.
“For APX005M, we are conducting a robust clinical program with 8 ongoing clinical trials, as we believe CD40 activation by APX005M will become a key component in several new I-O therapeutic regimens for treating cancer patients. Looking ahead, we will use our powerful discovery research engine to accelerate generation of new I-O therapeutics.”
APX005M is a novel, humanized monoclonal antibody that stimulates the anti-tumor immune response. APX005M targets CD40, a co-stimulatory receptor that is essential for activating both innate and adaptive immune systems.
Binding of APX005M to CD40 on antigen presenting cells (i.e., dendritic cells, monocytes and B-cells) initiates a multi-faceted immune response bringing multiple components of the immune system (e.g., T cells, macrophages) to work in concert against cancer.
APX005M is currently in Phase 2 clinical development for the treatment of cancers such as melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer, pancreatic cancer and renal cell carcinoma in various combinations with immunotherapy, chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
Company: Press Release.