A week after entering its lead asset into a phase 2 trial for a type of Crohn’s disease, Agomab Therapeutics has secured $100 million in series C financing to power up its pipeline.
The Belgian biotech will use part of the new capital to fund the trial, which will see 36 patients with fibrostenosing Crohn’s given the ALK5 inhibitor, dubbed AGMB-129. The gut-restricted small-molecule inhibitor has also recently received an FDA fast-track tag, having been shown to be safe at all dose levels tested in a phase 1 study earlier this year.
The latest funding round was led by Fidelity Management & Research Company with new investors hopping aboard including EQT Life Sciences and Dawn Biopharma, alongside existing backers. It follows a $40.5 million extension to a series B round led by Pfizer last year.
Agomab has been busy since unveiling with 21 million euros ($22 million) in 2019 with the aim of developing agonistic monoclonal antibodies—or “agomAbs”—that can potentially treat a variety of diseases. Based in Ghent, Belgium, the biotech was founded upon the work of Paolo Michieli, Ph.D., who has researched hepatocyte growth factor, or HGF, at the University of Torino for more than two decades. HGF plays a role in cell functions such as proliferation, survival and differentiation and can promote wound healing and tissue regeneration.
In 2021, Agomab bought Origo Biopharma, adding small-molecule drug candidates that target the transforming growth factor beta, including AGMB-129. The deal shifted the focus of Agomab, catching the attention of Pfizer and leading to the biotech gaining a coveted place on the Fierce 15 list in 2022.
The company’s hopes are that AGMB-129 can be used in combination with other Crohn’s drugs to help tamp down the disease and stop the scarring in those with fibrostenotic disease. This could be a sizable market—around 800,000 people are estimated to have Crohn’s in the U.S., around half of whom will be impacted by the fibrostenotic form.
The biotech will also channel some of its nine-figure fundraise across the rest of its pipeline, which includes an inhaled ALK5 inhibitor called AGMB-447 for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, as well as the MET agonists AGMB-101 and AGMB-102, which are being targeted at organ failure and fibrotic indications, respectively.
Some cash will also be used to “enable strategic expansion of the organization and fund general corporate purposes,” Agomab added in the release.