Antios Therapeutics, Inc. ("Antios") today announced the completion of a US$25 million oversubscribed Series A financing led by Lumira Ventures and Domain Associates, two prominent life science venture capital firms. Other investors participating in the financing include CAM Capital, Delos Capital, Quantum Vista Capital, Fonds de solidarité FTQ and Georgia Research Alliance Venture Fund. The proceeds from this financing will be used to develop ATI-2173, Antios' lead oral drug candidate for treating patients infected with Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and potentially Hepatitis D virus (HDV).
Antios is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel antiviral therapies for unmet medical needs. The company's lead program is aimed at developing a curative regimen for chronic HBV, a major unmet global health problem affecting over 250 million people worldwide, and a leading cause of chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. The company's founders include former senior executives from Pharmasset (acquired by Gilead Sciences) and Idenix (acquired by Merck), with decades of experience in the successful discovery, development and commercialization of transformative therapies and technologies to treat and cure viral infections.
"The next frontier in virology is to cure Hepatitis B. At Antios, we are committed to this pursuit," said co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Abel De La Rosa, Ph.D. "The strong financial support from our investors along with their extensive experience in clinical development and success building innovative companies in the infectious disease field will enable us to accelerate the development of ATI-2173 as a potential backbone of therapy to cure HBV."
"The unique mechanism of action combined with liver targeting and the potential for a one pill, once-a-day combination regimen makes ATI-2173 an exciting candidate for development to treat HBV," added Douglas Mayers, M.D., co-founder and Chief Medical Officer.
"We believe ATI-2173 has demonstrated highly unique properties and could be part of a paradigm shift in the treatment of HBV," said Beni Rovinski, Ph.D., Managing Director at Lumira Ventures. "We are excited to work again with Dr. De La Rosa and the team at Antios to advance this promising therapy."
Following the completion of the financing round, Dr. Beni Rovinski (Lumira Ventures), Nicole Vitullo (Domain Associates), Scott Morenstein (CAM Capital), Henry Chen (Delos Capital) and Dr. Abel De La Rosa, have joined Antios' Board of Directors.
About Antios Therapeutics
Antios Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company devoted to developing innovative therapies for viral diseases. With an experienced and proven leadership team, the company is focused on the development of its lead oral drug candidate for a potentially curative treatment of HBV infections.
