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- EUR 21m Series A secured with international investor syndicate co-led
by V-Bio Ventures (Belgium) and Advent France Biotechnology (France),
and joined by Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (Germany), Omnes
(France) and Pontifax (Israel)
- EUR 21m Series A secured with international investor syndicate co-led
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- Senior appointments announced including Tim Knotnerus as Chief
Executive Officer, Torsten Dreier as Chief Development Officer, and
John Haurum as Chairman of the Board of Directors
- Senior appointments announced including Tim Knotnerus as Chief
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- Exclusive license for HGF-mimetic SIMPLE Antibodies™, developed as a
value-creating partnership with argenx SE (Netherlands) under its
Innovative Access Program
- Exclusive license for HGF-mimetic SIMPLE Antibodies™, developed as a
GHENT, Belgium–(BUSINESS WIRE)–AgomAb Therapeutics N.V. (‘AgomAb’), a privately held Belgian
biotherapeutics company developing agonistic antibodies for regeneration
of damaged tissues, announces today that it has secured EUR 21m in a
Series A financing round from a strong international investor syndicate.
It also announces the exercise of an exclusive license agreement with
argenx SE (Euronext & Nasdaq: ARGX, ‘argenx’) and a number of senior
appointments to its Leadership Team and Board of Directors.
AgomAb was founded in 2017 based on the groundbreaking work of Paolo
Michieli and his translational medicine team at the University of
Torino, Italy, who have been studying the biology of Hepatocyte Growth
Factor (HGF) for almost 20 years. In collaboration with argenx, the
Company is developing growth factor-mimetic agonistic monoclonal
antibodies (“agomAbs”) with the potential to regenerate damaged tissues
and has produced a comprehensive preclinical package illustrating a
range of applications in the fields of fibrotic, inflammatory,
autoimmune and degenerative diseases.
Paolo Michieli commented: “The regenerative and anti-fibrotic potential
of HGF has been known for decades, but its translation to the clinic has
been challenging. While HGF-mimetic agomAbs maintain the full
therapeutic potential of HGF, they display the excellent drug-like
properties of antibodies, holding the promise for regeneration of
fibrotic tissues in a variety of clinical indications.”
AgomAb has attracted an experienced Leadership Team including Tim
Knotnerus, MSc, MBA, Paolo Michieli, PhD, and Torsten Dreier, PhD.
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- Tim recently joined AgomAb as Chief Executive Officer from AM-Pharma,
a privately held biotech company where he was VP Corporate
Development. Prior to AM-Pharma, Tim was at Aescap Venture, a European
VC fund.
- Tim recently joined AgomAb as Chief Executive Officer from AM-Pharma,
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- AgomAb’s founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Paolo, is Laboratory
Chief at the University of Torino Medical School in Italy. Prior to
opening his lab in Torino, he spent several years conducting research
at the National Cancer Institute, NIH in Bethesda, Maryland.
- AgomAb’s founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Paolo, is Laboratory
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- Torsten joined AgomAb as Chief Development Officer. Prior to AgomAb,
he was co-founder and Chief Development Officer at argenx. Torsten has
been developing antibodies for more than 20 years and has progressed
10 antibody products from preclinical research into clinical trials.
- Torsten joined AgomAb as Chief Development Officer. Prior to AgomAb,
Tim Knotnerus commented: “We are pleased to have the support of this
international syndicate of high-quality life sciences investors. Based
on the cutting-edge science of Paolo and his team, combined with the
development expertise of Torsten, we have the opportunity to develop
best-in-class therapeutics for indications with high unmet medical need.
We are committed to bringing innovative treatments to patients and to
establishing AgomAb as a leader in its field.”
Dr. John Haurum has been appointed as Chairman of the Board of Directors
of AgomAb. John is an experienced Life Sciences Executive and Board
Member. Most recently, he was Chief Executive Officer of F-star, a
leader in the discovery and development of novel bispecific antibodies
that target the immune system.
John Haurum commented: “Anti-fibrotic regenerative stimulation of the
HGF pathway is an exciting novel approach which holds promise in a range
of hard-to-treat inflammatory conditions. I am very excited to be
joining AgomAb and look forward to supporting the experienced Leadership
Team in developing this breakthrough approach and improve outcomes for
patients.”
Katja Rosenkranz, Partner at V-Bio Ventures, commented: “We are proud
that the two years incubation of AgomAb led to this fantastic financing
round. The AgomAb team continues to impress us with new data
demonstrating the potential of this approach for fibrotic and
degenerative diseases and we are very excited to be part of this
journey.”
Matthieu Coutet, Managing Partner at Advent France Biotechnology, added:
“The strength of the investor syndicate and the size of this financing
round underscores the belief in the team and the potential of the
company’s innovative technology, which may revolutionize the treatment
of fibrosis and other diseases.”
AgomAb today also announced that it has exercised an exclusive license
with argenx SE for the use of HGF-mimetic SIMPLE Antibodies™, developed
as a value-creating partnership under argenx’s Innovative Access
Program. argenx’s SIMPLE Antibody™ Platform is based on the powerful
llama immune system.
Following the financing and the new appointments, AgomAb’s Board of
Directors comprises John Haurum as Chairman, Matthieu Coutet from Advent
France Biotechnology, Ohad Hammer from Pontifax, Claire Poulard from
Omnes, Katja Rosenkranz from V-Bio Ventures, Ilka Wicke from BIVF and
Paolo Michieli as Founder.