Merus, a biopharmaceutical company focusing on human antibody therapeutics, has secured a EUR31m extension to its series B financing round, bringing the total round to EUR47.6m.
Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation (JJDC) joined as a new investor along with existing investors Novartis Venture Fund, Pfizer Venture Investments, Bay City Capital, LSP (Life Sciences Partners), and Aglaia Oncology Fund.
A representative of JJDC will join Merus’ board of directors.
Merus will use the new funds to broaden its portfolio of pre-clinical programs for the treatment of cancer patients and to bring its lead programmes into phase I clinical testing.
“We view the continuing support of our investors as a strong endorsement of our technology, our team and our strategy,” says Ton Logtenberg, chief executive officer of Merus. “We are particularly proud to welcome Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation to our investment consortium as our third big pharma corporate venture investor. As a next milestone, we are looking forward to moving our lead candidate into clinical development next year.”
The investment of JJDC in Merus was announced at the launch of the Johnson & Johnson Innovation Centre in London.
Earlier this year, Merus presented encouraging research and preclinical data of MCLA-117, a product candidate to treat acute myeloid leukaemia, a disease with very poor long-term prognosis. MCLA-117 is based on Merus’ proprietary Biclonics ENGAGE platform and is currently in development.
