EPFL's cancer drug developer Cellestia Biotech has extended its funding haul to $48.6m in a series B round that featured existing investor PPF Group.

Cellestia Biotech, a Switzerland-based small molecule cancer therapy developer spun out of EPFL, completed a CHF20m ($20.4m) series B round yesterday co-led by investment firm FC Capital. FC Capital co-led the deal with diversified holding company PPF Group, owner of biotech company Sotio, and Partners Investment. The round also featured unnamed new and existing private investors. Founded in 2014, Cellestia Biotech is working on small molecule cancer drugs that inhibit malfunctioning protein signalling pathways such as Notch, a mechanism responsible for cellular activity commonly implicated in the disease. Cellestia’s pipeline is led by the clinical-stage candidate CB-103, a Notch inhibitor that is anticipated to treat orphan cancer indications including malignancies of the salivary gland and a form of childhood leukaemia, as well as larger patient populations such as breast cancer. The series B cash will help fund Cellestia’s operations as it prepares to wrap up phase 1 clinical testing on CB-103 and set up a phase 2 study, while also progressing other protein-to-protein inhibitor-based candidates in its portfolio. Cellestia appointed Guido Guidi, former head of drug maker Novartis’s European unit, as its board chairman in June 2019 and has now added another ex-Novartis executive, Robert Karsunky, to the board as chairman of the audit committee. The spinout completed an $8m seed round over three tranches in 2016 and 2017, securing funding from PPF Group along with federal innovation agency Swiss Commission for Technology Innovation and unnamed additional investors including private backers. The company subsequently closed a $20.2m series A round in December 2018 through which FC Capital and PPF became major shareholders, investing alongside ETP Ventures and unspecified new and existing investors, according to Startup Ticker.

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