- Germany-based biotech CatalYm raised $150 million in Series D funding led by Canaan Partners and Bioqube Ventures.
- Funds will be used to expand phase 2b trials for Visugromab in various solid tumor indications.
- New board members include Colleen Cuffaro, Jon Edwards, and Otello Stampacchia; Stefan Luzi joins as a Board Observer.
Germany-based biotech firm CatalYm secured $150 million in a Series D round of funding, led by Canaan Partners and Bioqube Ventures and joined by Forbion’s Growth Opportunities Fund, Omega Funds, and Gilde Healthcare.
The round also included existing investors Jeito Capital, Brandon Capital Partners, Novartis Venture Fund, and Vesalius Biocapital III.
The company intends to use the funds to develop and expand phase 2b trials into specific checkpoint-naïve front-line and second-line treatment settings.
Following the completion of the financing, Colleen Cuffaro, Partner at Canaan, Jon Edwards, Managing Partner at Bioqube Ventures, and Otello Stampacchia, Managing Director and Founder at Omega Funds, will become members of the CatalYm Board of Directors. Additionally, Stefan Luzi, Partner at Gilde Healthcare, will join as a Board Observer.
“We continue to demonstrate visugromab’s potential to induce cancer remission depth and durability across multiple solid tumor indications emphasizing the substantial role visugromab could play in a novel anti-cancer therapy regimen,” said CatalYm Managing Director and CEO Phil L’Huillier, Ph.D.
A humanized monoclonal antibody, Visugromab, is designed to neutralize the tumor-produced Growth Differentiation Factor-15 (GDF-15), a key regulator of immune resistance to cancer treatments.
Founded in 2016 with backing from Forbion Ventures Fund III and BGV, CatalYm is at the forefront of developing a new class of cancer treatments designed to prevent or reverse resistance to checkpoint inhibitors, chemotherapy, and other targeted therapies.
CatalYm is preparing to launch additional randomized, controlled studies in several major cancer indications, combining checkpoint inhibitors and standard-of-care treatments for first- and second-line therapy in the first half of 2025.
Edited by Harshajit Sarmah
