Alethia Biotherapeutics, a Montreal-based biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of monoclonal antibodies, has closed a CAD9.6m series A round of financing.
Alethia will use the proceeds to advance its lead pre-clinical programmes into clinical development over the next 18 months.
Co-led by AgeChem Venture Fund and existing investor BDC Venture Capital with GO Capital, the financing also included participation from Epicentre Technologies of Wisconsin, a long term partner and shareholder of the company.
"We are very pleased to welcome AgeChem Venture to our investor syndicate. Along with our current shareholders, AgeChem’s support provides us with the necessary financial resources to continue building Alethia’s therapeutic product pipeline, validating the potential of our target discovery platform and maximizing the value of our programs for partnership opportunities," says Yves Cornellier (pictured), president and chief executive officer of Alethia.
Concurrent with the closing of the financing, Alethia has added two new members to its board of directors: Elizabeth Douville, general partner at AgeChem, and William J. Boyle, founder and chief executive of Peninsula Biopharma in California.
"We are very excited about working with the management of the company and our investment partners to build a leading target discovery and therapeutic monoclonal antibodies organisation in Canada. We believe Alethia’s very sensitive proprietary target discovery platform favourably positions the company for building an excellent pipeline of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies and forming strategic alliances," says Douville.
