Pheon Therapeutics, a leading Antibody-Drug Conjugate specialist developing next generation ADCs for a wide range of hard-to-treat cancers, have announced the completion of a $120m Series B financing to fund the development of its pipeline of differentiated ADCs. The financing was led by TCGX with participation from other new investors BVF Partners, Lightspeed and Perceptive Advisors, alongside existing investors Atlas Venture, Brandon Capital, Forbion, and Research Corporation Technologies.

The new financing will be used to further advance Pheon’s differentiated ADC pipeline through clinical proof of concept. The first three assets are aimed at an undisclosed novel target which is highly overexpressed in a wide range of solid tumours. The first program has demonstrated an unprecedented preclinical therapeutic index while utilising a DAR8 Topoisomerase-1 inhibitor linker-payload, whereas the next two ADCs utilise other linker-payload technologies to mine the broad potential of this target. The company expects to start its first Phase 1 clinical trial in 2024 and rapidly advance towards dose expansion cohorts. The capital will also enable the expansion of Pheon’s suite of in-house technology platforms to generate optimised ADC constructs.

Cyrus Mozayeni MD, Chief Executive Officer of Pheon, said: “This raise is a critical step as we transition into a clinical-stage company. The proceeds will fund a robust clinical development pathway for our first three ADC assets, which are based on an exceptional novel target. We are excited to be working on these promising candidates and look forward to sharing their potential therapeutic benefits with patients.”

Cariad Chester, Managing Partner of TCGX, commented: “The recent clinical successes of optimised ADC constructs validate the promise of this therapeutic modality to treat solid tumors. Continued progress against cancer is predicated upon innovative approaches to new targets. Pheon has an exciting pipeline of first and best-in-class ADC programs and I look forward to working with the company as it enters into the next stage of growth and development.”

As part of the financing, Cariad Chester, Managing Partner of TCGX, will join the board of directors.