Biotechnology company set for further growth after raising £40.5 million in new funding

A private biotechnology company has been given the green light to expand after successfully raising £40.5 million in new funding.

Curve Therapeutics, which occupies state of the art laboratories at Southampton Science Park, says the new investment will take the business to its next stage of growth.

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Pfizer Ventures led the Series A financing round with participation from Columbus Venture Partners and British Patient Capital.

They join founding investor Advent Life Sciences and co-lead from the seed round, Epidarex Capital.

Curve’s powerful Microcycle platform enables the direct discovery of biologically active molecules against targets that have been difficult to address using conventional drug discovery methods.

The company has built a discovery pipeline of assets including a first-in-class dual-inhibitor of HIF-1 and HIF-2 that addresses survival mechanisms in more than half of solid tumours.

It also has a first-in-class inhibitor of ATIC dimerization that targets an important vulnerability in multiple cancers.

The financing will allow Curve to progress development rapidly towards clinical development and expand the discovery platform beyond challenging and complex intracellular protein targets.

Simon Kerry, Chief Executive Office, said: “This financing will enable us to expand our team, progress our lead assets into the clinic and to expand our drug discovery platform.

“We welcome our new investors alongside our existing strong syndicate and look forward to working together to take Curve to its next stage of growth.”

Professor Ali Tavassoli, Chief Scientific Officer, said: “Curve’s Microcycle platform is a powerful tool for drug discovery, enabling an unparalleled advantage in the discovery of functional hits and leads.

“We look forward to maximising the potential of our platform to further develop a rich pipeline of programmes with the potential to treat unmet clinical needs in a diverse range of diseases, including cancer.”

Dr. Marie-Claire Peakman, Partner at Pfizer Ventures, said: “We are delighted to have led this financing and to work with great co-investors and leadership team.

“Curve’s platform provides an exciting new approach designed to tackle tough, high priority targets which have been difficult to progress in the past.

“We are eager for the company to progress the platform with the goal of identifying new therapeutics for challenging diseases.”