On January 8, 2019 Biond Biologics Ltd. ("Biond" or the "Company"), a privately-held Israeli biotechnology company, developing novel immunotherapies for cancer and autoimmune diseases, reported the closing of a $17 million Series B financing (Press release, Biond Biologics, JAN 8, 2019, View Source [SID1234532582]).
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Biond was founded in 2016 by the former scientific team of cCam Biotherapeutics, an immuno-oncology company which was fully acquired by Merck in July 2015. The former cCAM Biotherapeutics team was joined by additional veterans of the Israeli biotech industry, with the aim to build a strong, sustainable and innovative science-driven biotechnology company. The company’s vision and strategy are to bring innovative drugs to patients based on synergistic long-term collaborations with leading global companies in the immunotherapy field.
Biond intends to use the proceeds to move its lead drug candidate, BION-202, into clinical trials and to advance the preclinical development of BION-206 and its proprietary antibody cell-internalization technology.
The financing and due diligence were led by Israel Biotech Fund and Harel Insurance & Finance Group, with participation of Celgene Corporation, (NASDAQ: CELG), the Japanese-Israeli fund, SBI JI Innovation Fund and existing investors.
"We are excited to have such prominent investors as shareholders who are aligned with the company’s vision of delivering breakthrough immune-based solutions to patients with serious diseases," said Dr. Tehila Ben Moshe, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Biond Biologics. "After two years of intense and creative discovery work, we are ready to advance our first innovative drug candidate into clinical trials."
"We were very impressed by the innovative science discovered at Biond and by the quality and experience of its managerial and scientific team," said Dr. David Sidransky, M.D., Co-Founder and General Partner at Israel Biotech Fund and Biond board member. "Biond’s novel pipeline candidates have the potential of becoming paradigm shifting therapies in immuno-oncology."
"We are happy to support the outstanding management team at Biond and its cutting-edge pipeline and technology," stated at Harel Insurance & Finance. "This investment aligns with the group’s ongoing effort of investing in breakthrough and innovative technologies developed by companies with great growth potential."