Radiopharmaceuticals-focused Artbio has drawn in a $132 million series B to push its lead prostate cancer prospect through phase 2 trials and bolster its supply chain.
The round was co-led by Sofinnova Investments and B Capital, both new investors, alongside an undisclosed life sciences fund that invested in the Massachusetts-based biotech previously, according to a July 29 release. Other new investors include the Qatar Investment Authority and Alexandria Venture Investments, which join prior patrons F-Prime, Omega Funds and Third Rock Ventures.
The ART in Artbio comes from alpha radioligand therapies, a technique pioneered by the outfit’s scientific founders at the University of Oslo and Radium Hospital, both in Norway. The company maintains offices in Norway, Switzerland and the U.K., with headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The biotech's lead asset is AB001, a prospect for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer that is currently being tested in first-in-human studies. AB001 is designed to target prostate-specific membrane antigen, which is found on the surface of prostate cells but is often overexpressed when those cells become cancerous. The compound is intended to bathe cancer cells in lead-212 isotopes to irradiate and kill them.
Artbio enlisted CDMO Nucleus RadioPharma to help manufacture its lead-212 therapies, including AB001, in May 2024.
The new funds will also go toward building out Artbio’s network of manufacturers, the company said in the release, so the biotech will be prepared with enough AB001 to support clinical trials and, if all goes well, commercialization.
Artbio’s radio assets consist of isotopes made using its patented AlphaDirect technique, which the company says enables flexible production from the benchtop rather than depending on traditional nuclear reactors or cyclotrons.
“With a differentiated ART portfolio and integrated manufacturing approach, ARTBIO represents the ideal company that we look to partner with,” Maha Katabi, Ph.D., general partner at Sofinnova Investments, said in the release. “Equally impressive is their proprietary generator technology which is a game-changer for navigating around supply and production challenges for radioisotopes in today’s complex environment.”
Artbio launched in June 2023 with $23 million in seed funding and had another $90 million in hand from a series A just six months later. The company’s five other programs are all preclinical for undisclosed targets in multiple solid tumors.