AbilityPharma Announces € 7 Million Financing Round to Advance Development of its Clinical Phase 2b Autophagy Inducer ABTL0812 in Metastatic Pancreatic CancerThe Canadian venture capital fund CTI Life Sciences Fund III, Inveready and the EIC Fund from the European Commission close a round with the additional participation of CDTI Innvierte, FiTalent, family offices as well as founders.CERDANYOLA DEL VALLÈS (Barcelona), Catalonia, Spain, MONTREAL, Quebec, Canada and LUXEMBOURG, Luxembourg, March 11, 2024. The Catalan biopharmaceutical company Ability Pharmaceuticals, SA (AbilityPharma), focused on the development of innovative oral autophagy-inducing anticancer compounds, announces a €7M investment from a European-Canadian syndicate of life sciences investors, including CTI Life Sciences Fund, Inveready, the EIC Fund, Fitalent and CDTI Innvierte. The round was also supported by the company founders, the family offices IVAMOSA and GESAMO, and a collective investment campaign on the Capital Cell platform. The funding will allow the Company to fully finance its phase 2b clinical study of antitumor compound ABTL0812 in patients with pancreatic cancer. These funds are added to the €2M of non-diluting funds granted to the company in 2023 by Spain’s Ministry of Science and Innovation through the Public-Private Collaborations and Strategic Lines programs with contributions from Next Generation funds from the European Union. AbilityPharma is currently completing an international Phase 2b clinical trial with its product ABTL0812 in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer, a disease with a very low survival rate, with the aim of demonstrating greater efficacy than the current standard treatment FOLFIRINOX. This is a double-blind, placebo-controlled, first-line study in combination with FOLFIRINOX chemotherapy, ongoing in 23 hospitals in Spain, the US, France, and Israel. All 140 patients included in the study have already been recruited. Efficacy results are expected by year-end. Significant superior efficacy results in the clinical trial will allow AbilityPharma to obtain financing for final development of ABTL0812 and/or to license the molecule to a multinational pharmaceutical or biotechnology company that can complete its development, with the goal of making ABTL0812 available to pancreatic cancer patients in 2028. “We are very pleased to complete this financing round and welcome CTI Life Sciences Fund’s Shermaine Tilley to our board of directors, which will enable us to accelerate the development of ABTL0812 in the short term”, stated Carles Domènech, PhD, Executive Chairman and CEO at AbilityPharma, and co-founder. “We are thankful to CTI Life Sciences, Inveready and the EIC Fund for completing this financing round, and to all our new and existing investors for their confidence in our team and for their support to our goals. This investment will allow us to continue working tirelessly on taking ABTL0812 to patients with pancreatic cancer”. Shermaine Tilley, PhD, MBA, Managing Partner at CTI Life Sciences Fund, said “We are delighted to provide financing for late-stage development of Ability Pharma’s innovative and highly promising treatment for pancreatic cancer. I am pleased to assume a position on their board of directors and will work with management and the board to optimize the value of ABTL0812 for patients and for investors”. Sara Secall, MSc, MBA, General Partner Inveready, said “We are excited to bring in savvy investors that can help move forward AbilityPharma’s treatment for cancer patients”. Svetoslava Georgieva, Chair of the EIC Fund Board, said: “The EIC Fund has become a strong player in EU deep-tech investments. The unique financing approach through the EIC, combining grants and equity, is attracting significant interest from Europe's most promising start-ups and provides them with the means to develop and scale their businesses in Europe. Our investment will help Ability Pharma with the development of their product for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.” ---------------------------------_-------------------------------Comparto una noticia de AbilityPharma.Recordemos que la molécula era originalmente de Laminar Pharmas.
