Cantai Therapeutics recently announced the formation and completion of a seed financing co-led by Agent Capital and 82VS (the affiliated venture studio of Alloy Therapeutics) with additional participation from Tellus BioVentures. The proceeds from the funding will be used to develop drug candidates to treat autoimmune and inflammatory disorders by developing cytokine-targeting bispecific antibodies that meaningfully improve the status quo for the millions of patients suffering from immune-mediated and autoimmune diseases.
The agent conceived the idea for Cantai’s products and partnered with 82VS to develop the concept further. And Agent’s strong track record in financing companies in the autoimmune space, paired with 82VS’s company creation capabilities and deep bench of expert researchers, is a great match to join forces to develop such therapies. As part of the funding, Alloy will perform services to advance Cantai programs using its broad suite of human antibody discovery technologies, including the ATX-CLC (Common Light Chain) mouse platform for discovering bispecific antibody therapeutics.
Agent Capital is an international life sciences investment firm that is supporting disruptive healthcare companies focusing on novel, differentiated therapeutics and treatments that address unmet patient needs. And their first fund invested in 15 portfolio companies, the majority of which have executed collaborations with major pharmaceutical companies and successfully raised additional capital in the private or public markets. For more information, visit www.agentcapital.com.
82VS empowers exceptional scientist-entrepreneurs building therapeutic drug companies leveraging Alloy’s platforms and services. Aligned with the collaborative ecosystem ethos at Alloy, 82VS looks to partner and collaborate at every stage of the process, including bringing in venture capital partners at the earliest stages of company creation.
Alloy Therapeutics’ Bispecific Discovery Service aims to democratize access to enabling platform technologies, capabilities, and expertise to discover novel, developable, and therapeutically functional bispecific antibodies. And Alloy has demonstrated that the ATX-CLC maintains unrestricted heavy chain diversity and immune response comparable with that of the ATX-Gx platform trusted by 150+ partners.
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“We are thrilled to launch Cantai and to power it with the deep research capabilities at Alloy Therapeutics,” she noted. “It requires a team effort to drive meaningful drug development for patients who are suffering with high unmet diseases.”
- Geeta Vemuri, Ph.D., M.B.A., Founder and Managing Partner of Agent Capital, who will be the Board Chair
“Cantai is a great example of how our 82VS model allows us to build bespoke partnerships with top-tier investors like Agent Capital,” said Mr. Anderson. “We are excited to leverage Alloy’s high throughput antibody discovery engine to enable the capital-efficient development of next-generation immune-modulating therapeutics for patients in need.”
- Errik Anderson, M.B.A., General Partner at 82VS and Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Alloy, who joins the Board of Directors
