Quell Therapeutics raises $156m in an oversubscribed Series B financing
News, by AlbionVC
Posted
Quell Therapeutics Ltd (“Quell”), the world leader in the development of engineered T-regulatory (Treg) cell therapies for serious medical conditions driven by the immune system, today announced it has raised $156 million in an oversubscribed Series B financing.
The financing round was co-led by Jeito Capital, Ridgeback Capital Investments, SV Health Investors and Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC with participation from founding investor Syncona. New investors include British Patient Capital through its Future Fund: Breakthrough program, Janus Henderson Investors, Monashee Investment Management, Point72 and funds managed by Tekla Capital Management LLC.
Proceeds from the financing will be used to:
- Fund the LIBERATE Phase 1/2 clinical trial of QEL-001, a first-in-class antigen-specific multi-modular CAR-Treg cell therapy candidate designed to prevent organ rejection in liver transplant patients by inducing durable immune tolerance and eliminating the need for lifelong immunosuppression. QEL-001 is on-track to become the first multi-modular engineered CAR-Treg cell therapy in clinical development, with patient recruitment expected to begin before the end of the year.
- Advance Quell’s pipeline in core therapeutic areas of transplantation, neuroinflammatory diseases and autoimmune diseases
- Accelerate the development of Quell’s autologous multi-modular engineered Treg platform, and further develop an allogeneic CAR-Treg platform
“Quell is at the forefront of a new wave of cell therapy. We are leading the way with our highly-differentiated, multi-modular approach to Treg therapy engineering and production.”
Iain McGill, CEO Quell
Tanel Ozdemir, Investor UCL Technology Fund said: “First and foremost, I’d like to highlight just how much of an impressive job the entire Quell team have done since being spun out from KCL and UCL in 2019. The fact that they will begin patient recruitment for QEL-001 by the end of 2021 is a testament to this and further demonstrates the Company’s pioneering role within the engineered Treg field. This latest $156m Series B financing is another laudable achievement by the team, and UCL Technology Fund are delighted to see such a high quality and experienced set of new investors join us on this exciting journey ahead.”
The FT has more here