Asgard Therapeutics announces €30 million Series A financing to advance its first-in-class in vivo cell reprogramming platform for immuno-oncology
Asgard Therapeutics, a privately held biotech company pioneering in vivo direct cell reprogramming for cancer immunotherapy, today announces a €30 million Series A financing. The funds will be used to support development of Asgard ́s lead program AT-108 to IND-readiness by 2026, expand and reinforce its research and development team, and fuel new reprogramming modalities and delivery platforms to strengthen the pipeline.
AT-108 is a first-in-class, off-the-shelf gene therapy that directly reprograms tumor cells into antigen-presenting dendritic cells, ultimately leading to a personalized anti-tumor immune response. Building on several publications in the high-impact journal Science Immunology I II III , AT-108 has achieved preclinical proof of concept (PoC) in patient-derived ex vivo models as well as rodent in vivo models, inducing strong anti-tumor immunity and abscopal effect, even in a monotherapy setting.
Jonas Jendi, Senior Investment Director, at Industrifonden, commented: “We are impressed with the progress the Asgard team has made and it’s inspiring to see how this great team progresses so strongly along the path from science into the clinic. We are proud to keep supporting the company in the important next steps, alongside a group of international specialist investors.”
Industrifonden first invested in Asgard Therapeutics in 2021. This round was co-led by RV Invest and Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc., with participation not just from Industrifonden but also existing investors Novo Holdings and Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund.
Cristiana Pires, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Asgard Therapeutics, said: “Asgard’s technology overcomes challenges faced by traditional cell therapies, enabling the recreation of desired functional immune cells directly inside the patient’s body. We believe this breakthrough strategy will give rise to the next generation of cell therapies. This financing also follows a strong pre-clinical package providing PoC for AT-108. We would like to thank both new and existing investors for their support as we discover and develop innovative immunotherapies with breakthrough potential and look forward to progressing our lead program AT-108 to the clinic.”