Pfizer-backed CellCentric has secured $120 million in series C funds as the British biotech prepares to take its multiple myeloma drug into pivotal trials.
The candidate in question, an oral p300/CBP inhibitor dubbed inobrodib, is currently undergoing a phase 2a study in combination with dexamethasone and Bristol Myers Squibb’s Imnovid for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. A readout from the trial at last year’s American Society of Hematology meeting showed a 75% overall response rate at the highest dose level.
This morning’s infusion of fresh cash will be used to bankroll a phase 2/3 study in patients with heavily pretreated multiple myeloma, with an eye to providing the data needed for an accelerated approval filing with the FDA.
The Cambridge, U.K.-based company has also earmarked some of the money to support a phase 3 program penciled to launch in mid-2026, according to a May 19 release.
In the near term, CellCentric will use some of the series C funds to begin trials of inobrodib with various bispecific antibodies in the maintenance setting, beginning in the coming weeks.
The round was co-led by RA Capital Management along with new investor Forbion. Avego Bioscience Capital and BrightEdge, the American Cancer Society’s venture capital arm, also participated.
“We are delighted to secure the investment required to continue to advance inobrodib fully and as effectively as possible,” CellCentric CEO Will West said in the release. “This is a significant raise in a challenging market. Today’s announcement is a testament to the data we have in hand, the clear clinical and commercial opportunity inobrodib represents, and the strength of our expanded team.”
CellCentric’s hope is that by targeting p300/CBP, inobrodib can lower the expression of MYC and IRF4, which are known to drive cancer. This potential has been enough to secure the biotech a $25 million strategic investment from Pfizer in 2023, followed by a $35 million investment from RA Capital last year.
While the company was spun out of the work of University of Cambridge developmental biologist Azim Surani, Ph.D., CellCentric has been busy expanding its presence in Boston this year. This strategy has included opening a new office in nearby Burlington last month that the company said at the time would help “increase the company’s drug development capacity.”