UTRF licensee Attralus Inc. closes $116 million Series B financing round
Less than a year after announcing the securing of $25 million in investment financing, Attralus Inc., a licensee of technology from the University of Tennessee (UT) Research Foundation, has more good news.
The San Francisco-based clinical stage biopharmaceutical company has closed a $116 million Series B financing round that was led by Logos Capital and included participation from Janus Henderson Investors, Redmile Group, Samsara BioCapital, Sarissa Capital Management, Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company), and Vivo Capital. Founding investor, venBio Partners, also participated in the financing.
“This financing from a world-class syndicate of investors with deep expertise and experience in the life science space reflects the recognition of the strong potential of our pipeline of innovative pan-amyloid removal (PAR) therapeutics to bring a new treatment approach to patients with systemic amyloidosis,” said Mark Timney, Chief Executive Officer of Attralus. “With this support, we will accelerate our strategy to advance our PAR therapeutic programs into clinical trials along with the world’s first amyloidosis-specific diagnostic imaging agent.”
Among the Founders of Attralus is Jonathan Wall, a Professor and Director of Research at the UT Graduate School of Medicine, who has made it his mission over the last two and a half decades to study this rare disease and develop ways to diagnose and treat it. That work was spotlighted in a recent edition of the Foundation’s newsletter.
Wall continues to serve as the start-up’s Interim Chief Scientific Officer. In a two-part teknovation.biz series published in 2014 (Part 1 and Part 2), Wall discussed that work and a company that the researchers had founded. That company folded, but the work lived on.
Proceeds from the financing will be used to prepare the advancement of Attralus’ PAR therapeutics into clinical trials. The first PAR therapeutic, AT-03, is expected to begin a Phase 1 biodistribution study in systemic amyloidosis patients. Additionally, the company plans to advance the AT-01 clinical program, an amyloid-specific imaging radiotracer for the diagnosis of systemic amyloidosis. The funding will also enable the company to expand its team and infrastructure to support future growth.
More details on the Series B round and additions to the Attralus Board of Directors can be found here.
