LYON, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MaaT Pharma announced today an €18 million Series B financing round including a microbiome-focused US investor, SymBiosis, LLC, and support from its existing investors Seventure Partners, Crédit Mutuel Innovation, and Biocodex. The funding will enable the continued clinical development of the company’s current pipeline, as well as the expansion into additional oncological indications where restoring a functional microbiome could provide significant therapeutic benefit when combined with other cancer treatments such as immune checkpoint inhibitors.
“We are excited to have added a US-based investor to our syndicate based on the strategic importance of the US market for our future development. I would like to thank our existing investors and our network of scientific advisors for their continued support as we enter into this next development phase for the company,” said Hervé Affagard, co-founder and CEO of MaaT Pharma. “A growing body of evidence suggests that a functional microbiome can improve cancer outcomes, and we look forward to continue building on our initial proof of concept by going beyond hematological malignancies into solid tumors.”
The proceeds will be used to complete the ongoing HERACLES Phase II clinical trial (NCT03359980) of MaaT’s lead compound, MaaT013, in patients that developed steroid-refractory, gastrointestinal-predominant, acute Graft-versus-Host-Disease (SR aGvHD) following allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (allo-HSCT). In addition, the company will accelerate the development of a capsule formulation of MaaT013, MaaT033, which will ease administration and facilitate the expansion of the company’s pipeline into new oncological indications, including the initiation of a Phase 1b clinical trial with MaaT033. Recent studies demonstrated that restoring a balanced microbiome can significantly improve the clinical outcomes of checkpoint inhibitors, and MaaT Pharma will investigate this potential in a combination trial in solid tumors. Preliminary data from the safety and dose-finding Phase 1b trial of MaaT033 is expected in H2 2020.
MaaT Pharma’s product candidates are based on the company’s proprietary MaaT Microbiome Restoration Biotherapeutics (MMRB) platform. MaaT Pharma’s lead product candidate, MaaT013, is an enema formulation characterized by a high consistent richness of microbial species, whose specific bacteria are protected thanks to a proprietary formulation, derived from pooling the full intestinal ecosystems of stringently vetted, healthy donors. The product is manufactured at MaaT Pharma’s centralized European cGMP production facility. Apart from the ongoing HERACLES Phase II trial, from which results are expected in 2020, MaaT Pharma has provided MaaT013 to a compassionate use program for patients who had failed to respond to previous treatments for SR aGvHD. In total, over 50 patients with severe hematological malignancies have been treated with the company’s product candidate. The data collected up to date demonstrate that reintroduction of a full-ecosystem microbiota is well tolerated in these patients and provides initial signs of therapeutic benefit. Initial results from the company’s compassionate use program were presented at the 2019 ASH conference in Orlando, Florida.
About MaaT Pharma
MaaT Pharma, a clinical stage company, has established the most complete approach to restoring patient-microbiome symbiosis to improve survival outcomes in life-threatening diseases. Committed to treating a range of cancers and Graft-versus-Host-Disease, a serious complication of allogeneic stem cell transplantation, MaaT Pharma has already achieved proof of concept in acute myeloid leukemia patients. Supporting the further expansion of our pipeline into improving outcomes of immunotherapy in solid tumors, we have built a powerful discovery and analysis platform, GutPrint®, to evaluate drug candidates, determine novel disease targets and identify biomarkers for microbiome-related conditions. Our biotherapeutics are produced under the strictest cGMP manufacturing and quality control process to safely deliver the full diversity and functionality of the microbiome. MaaT Pharma benefits from the commitment of world-leading scientists and established relationships with regulators to spearhead the integration of microbiome treatment into clinical practice.
