Iksuda Therapeutics raises £34 million to expand conjugation platform technologies

Antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) developer Iksuda Therapeutics has raised £34 million in a financing round to support the expansion of its conjugation platform technologies.

Iksuda’s lead pre-clinical candidate, IKS03, is a best-in-class CD19-targeted ADC candidate for B-cell cancers. The investment will enable progression of IKS03 to first-in-human phase 1 clinical trials and will also be used to accelerate the company’s earlier-stage programmes including IKS04 and IKS012 to IND filing.

Iksuda’s ADC programmes target tumours that currently have limited treatment options and high relapse rates. The company’s drug development pipeline focuses on improving the safety and efficacy of tumour activated, prodrug payloads in combination with stable conjugation technologies. Its research-stage pipeline utilises its proprietary Protein Alkylating (ProAlk) tumour-activated payload platform, which looks at the benefits against drug and tumour resistance mechanisms to help enable the development of more powerful and tolerable ADCs.

Dr Dave Simpson, chief executive officer, Iksuda Therapeutics, said: “This is a transformational investment milestone for Iksuda, enabling us to focus on the progression of our industry-leading ADC programmes and bring them to the clinic, whilst supporting our commercial growth. The funding not only reflects the potential of our technologies, but also the unmatched expertise of the Iksuda team. We are grateful for the support of this group of investors and delighted to welcome them to the team.”

Ji Kwang Chung, investor, Mirae Asset Capital, commented: “We have been highly impressed with Iksuda’s approach and progress to date, and with the Company’s leadership. We are delighted to lead this investment round, and to contribute to enabling the team to progress its very promising pipeline of ADC candidates.”