AdvanCell has secured $112 million in a Sanofi Ventures-backed series C funding round as the Australian radiopharma company takes its lead candidate through a prostate cancer trial.
The Pb-212-based radionuclide treatment, dubbed ADVC001, is currently undergoing a phase 1/2 dose-escalation trial in metastatic prostate cancer. AdvanCell’s hope is that ADVC001 will prove itself to be a best-in-class targeted alpha therapy.
Targeted alpha therapies, a type of radionuclide therapy, have attracted Big Pharma interest in recent years, including AstraZeneca’s $2 billion buyout of Fusion Pharmaceuticals, Bristol Myers Squibb’s $4.1 billion acquisition of RayzeBio and Eli Lilly’s absorption of Point Biopharma Global for $1.4 billion.
Sydney-based AdvanCell was founded in 2019 “on the belief that targeted alpha therapies could change the course of cancer treatment and that the scalable supply of isotopes would enable the development of multiple practice-changing drugs,” according to the release.
The oversubscribed series C round was co-led by SV Health Investors, Sanofi Ventures, Abingworth and SymBiosis. Morningside—which led AdvanCell’s $18 million series B in 2022—and new investors like Tenmile and Brandon Capital also participated.
“We are delighted to support AdvanCell’s growth and play a role in its remarkable journey through leading this oversubscribed Series C,” Jamil Beg, partner at SV Health Investors, said in the Feb. 3 release. “We have looked long and deep at the field of radionuclide therapies and are confident that AdvanCell stands out with a first-in-class Pb-212-PSMA program and a best-in-class manufacturing platform.”
AdvanCell CEO Andrew Adamovich said today’s funding ensured the company is “well-positioned to scale our manufacturing operations and progress our cutting-edge therapies towards commercialization.”
AdvanCell isn’t the only Australian radiopharma company that has cash to burn. Telix Pharmaceuticals lined up a $200 million Nasdaq IPO last year but changed its mind at the last minute and has instead embarked on an acquisition spree that has included Texas-based CDMO IsoTherapeutics, ARTMS and RLS Radiopharmacies.