Laigo Bio, a company pioneering novel and highly differentiated therapies using its proprietary SureTAC™ precision membrane protein degradation platform, has successfully raised €11.5m in a seed financing. The company will use the proceeds to advance its SureTAC™ oncology programs towards clinical development, and to accelerate discovery and development of its three SureTAC™ immunology candidate therapeutic programs for autoimmune and graft rejection indications.
Laigo Bio also announces the appointment of Dr Matthew Baker, the current acting Chief Executive Officer, as its CEO. Dr Baker is an accomplished serial biotech executive, with more than two decades of experience in inflammatory and oncology, including previous roles as CEO at NeoPhore Ltd., non-executive director at Oxford Genetics, CSO at Abzena and CEO and CSO at Antitope Ltd, amongst several other senior positions. He is also a non-executive director at Fusion Antibodies, a leading CRO providing antibody development services.
“This seed funding is a strong endorsement of both the scientific foundation and the unique potential of our approach enabling selective degradation of membrane-bound targets involved in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases,” said Dr Matthew Baker, Chief Executive Officer of Laigo Bio. “With these resources, we are well positioned to initiate discovery efforts in auto-immunity and to advance our oncology programs through preclinical development. Our team remains focused on achieving key preclinical milestones and progressing our first-in-class lead programs toward early clinical evaluation, to deliver transformative therapies for patients.”
Surface Removal Targeting Chimeras (SureTAC™), developed by Prof Madelon Maurice’s laboratory at the UMC Utrecht, are proprietary therapeutic candidates for targeted degradation of membrane proteins, that have been validated as disease drivers but have eluded drug discovery, and were long considered "undruggable". Developed by Laigo Bio, SureTAC™ are bispecific antibody molecules that induce degradation by bringing the cell surface target protein into close proximity with a surface E3 ligase enzyme, resulting in highly selective and deep inhibition of disease pathways in disease tissues.
In its oncology programs aimed at the immune checkpoint PD-L1, and a hard-to-drug Wnt pathway receptor, Laigo Bio has shown that its SureTAC™ degradation technology results in remarkable in vivo and in vitro efficacy. SureTACs show a high degree of selectivity for targeting diseased tissue, resulting in improved toxicity and safety. Laigo Bio intends to advance its oncology programs internally until completion of preclinical studies before collaborating with pharmaceutical partners.
The funding round was co-led by Kurma Partners and Curie Capital. The other investors were Argobio Studio, Angelini Ventures (the venture capital arm of Angelini Industries, which is investing $300m across a biotech and digital health portfolio in North-America and Europe), Eurazeo (a leading European investment group managing €36.8bn across private equity, debt, real estate, and infrastructure), the Oncode Bridge Fund, ROM Utrecht region (a regional investor backed by the European Regional Development Fund), and UK-based Cancer Research Horizons, the translation subsidiary of the world’s largest charitable funder of cancer research, Cancer Research UK.
Laigo Bio was founded by the Oncode Institute, together with the Oncode Bridge Fund and Argobio Studio, an international biotech start-up studio launched by Kurma Partners, a key player in financing innovation in healthcare. “Kurma is excited to support a company with such a promising technology platform targeting disease pathways that have long been deemed undruggable,” said Thierry Laugel, Chairman of the Management Board of Argobio and Managing Partner at Kurma Partners.
“Curie Capital is proud to support development of Laigo Bio’s SureTac™ unique platform technology because of its promise in addressing very specific therapeutic targets in diseases with high unmet medical need,” said Mariëtte Roesink, Managing Partner of Curie Capital.
Phil Masterson, Associate Director of Ventures, Cancer Research Horizons, said, “Laigo Bio is advancing the frontier of targeted protein degradation. Its SureTAC platform offers a unique opportunity to target previously ‘undruggable’ cancer-related membrane proteins with greater precision and tolerability, and we’re delighted to support the Company as it takes its key oncology programs through preclinical development. Backed by deep scientific expertise in cancer biology, particularly in indications of high in unmet need, the Laigo Bio team is exceptionally positioned to drive meaningful impact in oncology.”
About Argobio Studio
Argobio Studio (www.argobiostudio.com) is the launch platform for Europe’s best medicinal science. They are operational venture builders dedicated to turning cutting-edge science into globally competitive companies pioneering breakthrough therapeutics for patients around the world. Argobio reduces execution risk by co-founding, investing, and embedding its experienced collaborative team to accelerate development with industrial rigor and speed toward value-creating milestones.
About Oncode Institute
Oncode Institute (www.oncodeinstitute.nl), Oncode Bridge Fund: The Oncode Oncology Bridge Fund provides early-stage financing to help the creation and growth of new enterprises based on the science of Oncode Investigators. The Bridge Fund aims to accelerate the translation of innovative cancer research of the Oncode labs into treatment options, diagnostic methods and research tools that benefit patients and society as a whole.
About Kurma Partners
Founded in Paris in 2009, Kurma Partners (www.kurmapartners.com) has become a key player in financing innovation to build the healthcare industry of tomorrow. Kurma invests in companies from their inception and to finance their growth, across the spectrum of the healthcare sector through its various franchises. These have grown with successive funds in early-stage biotechnology (Biofunds I, II, III and IV), digital health and early-stage diagnostics (Kurma Diagnostics and Kurma Diagnostics 2) and, more recently, growth capital (Kurma Growth Opportunities Fund). Kurma's teams, with a total of 25 people and 10 partners, are based in two offices, in Paris and Munich. They are deeply involved in the European ecosystem and have built up a solid network of international connections with prestigious research institutes, hospitals, entrepreneurs, industry and fellow investors. Kurma Partners is part of the Eurazeo group.
About Curie Capital
Founded in 2018 and based in Amsterdam, Curie Capital (www.curiecapital.nl) is a Life Sciences focused venture capital firm specialized in Seed and Series A stage biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical Technology companies. The fund team actively uses its deep scientific knowledge, business experience and extensive global expert network to select and support its portfolio companies. Curie Capital invests in first-in-class and best-in-class solutions with the aim to make a positive impact on patients and healthcare.
About Laigo Bio
Laigo Bio (www.laigobio.com), an early stage biotech company based in the Netherlands, is the first company to leverage E3 ligase internalization for the selective degradation of membrane-bound targets involved in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Its proprietary SureTAC™ platform creates bispecific antibodies that target the optimal pair of E3 ligase and disease-causing target to stimulate ubiquitination and lysosomal degradation of the target protein with a high degree of specificity. Degradation of the target protein achieves deeper inhibition of disease pathways, while sparing the desirable functions of the target cell.
Contacts
Laigo Bio
Matthew Baker
Chief Executive Officer
[email protected]
Cohesion Bureau
International media and investors
Giovanni Ca’ Zorzi
[email protected]
+33 7 84 67 07 27