San Francisco-based biotech Alector just brought in yet another chunk of cash to fund its monoclonal antibody approach to Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions.
Right on the heels of a September Series C round of $32 million, the company’s brought in another $29.5 millions in a D round. The new round should help propel Alector’s “hypothesis-driven” preclinical work into human trials.
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CEO Arnon Rosenthal told MedCity News of this financing in the fall, saying that Alector’s unique approach to brain diseases is causing a lot of buzz in the life sciences investment community. The round comes largely from the Dementia Discovery Fund, though new investors Amgen Ventures and AbbVie have joined the fray.
Alector, after all, has the view that many neurodegenerative diseases are caused by certain immune deficiencies. So its platform works by enhancing or dialing back certain functions of the immune system to control the genetic expression of several neurodegenerative disorders. Rosenthal explained Alector’s approach in the September interview:
Rosenthal likened Alector’s drug development process as similar to the immunotherapy used in cancer. First generation antibody drugs, like Rituxan, are based on antibodies designated to kill a specific kind of cancer, based on the protein a specific tumor cell expresses. Some next generation drugs are looking for a broader approach to treating cancer – impacting the greater function of the immune system as opposed to honing in on deeply targeted drugs.
The Alector pipeline will ostensibly target the tau proteins as well as the alpha synucleins that are implicated in causing neurodegenerative disease.
“We think our approach is much broader than targeted therapeutics,” Rosenthal said.
Alector will begin the clinical study of its immunotherapy candidates on patients with a genetic predisposition to the disease – focusing on populations that run a high risk of developing the disease.
The startup is building out a broad pipeline of therapeutics, working closely withAdimab – an antibody discovery company led by Alector cofounder Tillman Gerngross. Alector’s R&D has otherwise been completely in-house – it holds no academic or licensing ties to other institutions, though it’s partnered out for some drug candidates with Johnson & Johnson.
“It reflects the strong interest of the pharma industry in what we are doing,” Rosenthal said – to say nothing of the spate of high-profile investors chomping at the bit to fund the company.
Though no one’s announced it publicly, Rosenthal believes that several large pharma are now entering the immuno-modulation space for neurodegenerative disease.
“The immunotherapy approach to neurodegenerative disease is becoming more competitive and hotter – but we started earlier,” Rosenthal said.
Existing investors include Merck Research Lab Ventures, OrbiMed, Polaris Partners, GV (Google Ventures), Topspin Partners and Mission Bay Capital. It’s on the prowl to hire immunologists and neurobiologists.
