Pharmaceutical Business review

Tubulis secures $138.8m to develop ADCs for solid tumours

The funds will aid in bolstering Tubulis’ suite of technology platforms to unlock new payloads to develop adaptable ADCs. Credit: National Cancer Institute on Unsplash.

EQT Life Sciences and Nextech Invest jointly led the financing round with contributions from new US-based investors, Frazier Life Sciences and Deep Track Capital.

Existing investors including Andera Partners, BioMedPartners, Fund+ and Bayern Kapital, among others also took part.

The investment will be used to advance the company’s next-generation ADCs towards clinical assessment and support achieving clinical proof-of-concept for its lead candidates, TUB-040 and TUB-030.

TUB-040 targets the tumour-antigen sodium-dependent phosphate transport protein 2B (NaPi2b), prevalent in ovarian and lung cancer, while TUB-030 is aimed at 5T4, an antigen commonly overexpressed in solid tumours.

The company is gearing up to initiate its first Phase I/IIa clinical trial, which will include dose escalation and dose optimisation cohorts, this year.

The funds will also aid in bolstering Tubulis’ suite of technology platforms to unlock new payloads to develop adaptable ADCs.

As part of the financing, EQT Life Sciences managing director Christoph Broja and Nextech Invest managing partner Kanishka Pothula will become part of the supervisory board of Tubulis.

In response to the influx of US investors, the company is also planning to broaden its corporate presence by establishing a subsidiary in the US.

Tubulis CEO and co-founder Dominik Schumacher said: “This substantial financing from a syndicate of global specialist biotech investors recognizes Tubulis’ unique position in the ADC space. Our proprietary platform technologies and internal know-how are the foundation for our pipeline of truly differentiated protein-drug conjugates.

“Our goal is to establish Tubulis as a global ADC leader as we transition into a clinical-stage company and harness the full power of ADCs to bring their therapeutic value to patients with solid tumours.”