Commit Biologics – an innovator in activating the complement system to treat cancer and autoimmune disease – announced a €5.5 million extension to its seed funding. The contribution from new investor Korys brings the total seed funding raised since Commit’s launch to €21.5 million. Commit had emerged from stealth last May, having raised €16 million from Novo Holdings and Bioqube Ventures.
The proceeds of the funding, which will be used to advance the BiCE platform and work towards drug candidate selection, extend Commit’s runway into late 2026. And Commit is developing its Bispecific Complement Engaging (BiCE) platform. It utilizes single-domain antibodies that bind to the complement protein C1q to activate and direct the complement system, a fast-acting and potent part of the innate immune system. BiCE is a modular system that can arm antibodies to direct the complement system in a highly targeted way to kill tumor cells or cells implicated in autoimmune disease selectively.
Commit appointed Chief Scientific Officer Mikkel Wandahl Pedersen as Interim CEO to execute the plan. And Dr. Pedersen is a seasoned R&D executive and scientific leader with over two decades of experience in immuno-oncology and autoimmune disease drug discovery and development. He had joined Commit last year after previously serving as CSO of Oslo-based Nykode Therapeutics and Denmark-based Symphogen. Dr Pedersen retains his role as Commit’s CSO.
KEY QUOTES:
“This additional financing from Korys, a new investor, underscores the great potential of our BiCE platform to redefine the treatment of cancer and autoimmune disease. We welcome Eva to our Board of Directors, where her expertise will be invaluable as we work towards drug candidate selection. The additional financing further extends our cash runway into late 2026, and we remain hyper-focused on progressing our platform to the next stage of our development.”
- Mikkel Wandahl Pedersen, Interim Chief Executive Officer and CSO of Commit Biologics
“Commit is pioneering a unique platform technology that robustly activates the complement system and easily integrates with existing antibody formats in a plug-and-play fashion. This innovative technology holds the promise of significantly improving the lives of patients battling cancer and autoimmune diseases. We are impressed with the progress already made by the Commit team since the initial seed financing and we are confident they have the expertise to drive the platform forward.”
- Eva Van Overmeire, Senior Investment Manager at Korys
