Alentis Therapeutics closes USD 105 million Series C round

Alentis is the only company developing potential treatments for solid cancers and fibrosis targeting CLDN1, a target that plays a key role in the pathology of tumors with immune evasive properties and fibrotic disease across multiple organs. The company has completed the first phase of its first-in-human trial for its lead program, ALE.F02, currently in development for the treatment of advanced kidney, lung and liver fibrosis. The start of Phase 2 is planned for H2 2023. A first in human trial for ALE.C04, a potential treatment for tumors is also planned for H2 2023.

Today, Alentis announced $105 million in Series C financing. The funding round was led by Jeito Capital together with Novo Holdings A/S and RA Capital Management with participation from existing investors including BB Pureos Bioventures, Bpifrance through its InnoBio 2 fund and Schroders Capital.

The financing will support Phase II and Phase I programs of Alentis’ lead investigational products ALE.F02 and ALE.C04 respectively as well as the CLDN1 platform development.

“We are absolutely delighted with this support from our investors,” said Dr. Roberto Iacone, CEO at Alentis Therapeutics. “There are huge unmet needs in organ fibrosis and cancer, and this funding enables us to continue with the important work we’re doing in the CLDN1 space and generate clinical data from both our programs. We can now aggressively develop CLDN1 biology in oncology and continue with the recruitment of our organ fibrosis trials while advancing our ADC and bi-specific antibodies.”

Founder and CEO of Jeito Capital, Rafaèle Tordjman said, “We are totally convinced about the CLDN1 biology potential in multiple areas of fibrosis and oncology. Alentis has made significant progress in identifying target populations while developing programs and advancing the platform. We are committed to continuing our partnership with Alentis as they are the leading player in the CLDN1 space and are well positioned to generate meaningful clinical data within the next 12 to 18 months.”

Novo Holdings’ Senior Partner, Naveed Siddiqi will join the Alentis Therapeutics’ Board of Directors. “Alentis has pioneered a world-leading position in the Claudin-1 space and is led by highly capable drug developers. We were encouraged by exciting emerging preclinical data in oncology and the potential of Claudin-1 targeted therapeutics to treat a wide range of cancers where Claudin-1 is highly expressed,” said Naveed Siddiqi.

Alentis is the only company developing potential treatments for solid cancers and fibrosis targeting CLDN1. The company was founded in 2019 based on ground-breaking research in the laboratory of Prof. Thomas Baumert MD at the University of Strasbourg and the French National Institute of Health (Inserm). Alentis is headquartered in Basel’s pharma-biotech hub in Switzerland with an R&D subsidiary in Strasbourg, France and clinical operations in the US.