WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cantai Therapeutics (“Cantai”) today announced its formation and the completion of a seed financing co-led by Agent Capital and 82VS (the affiliated venture studio of Alloy Therapeutics) with additional participation from Tellus BioVentures. The proceeds will be used to develop drug candidates to treat autoimmune and inflammatory disorders by developing cytokine-targeting bispecific antibodies that meaningfully improve the status quo for the millions of patients suffering from immune-mediated and autoimmune diseases.
Agent conceived the idea for Cantai’s products and partnered with 82VS to further develop the concept. Agent’s strong track record in financing companies in the autoimmune space paired with 82VS’s company creation capabilities and deep bench of expert researchers is a perfect match to join forces to develop such therapies. As part of the financing, Alloy will perform services to advance Cantai programs using Alloy’s broad suite of human antibody discovery technologies, including the ATX-CLC (Common Light Chain) mouse platform for the discovery of bispecific antibody therapeutics.
Geeta Vemuri, Ph.D., M.B.A., Founder and Managing Partner of Agent Capital, will be the Board Chair. "We are thrilled to launch Cantai and to power it with the deep research capabilities at Alloy Therapeutics," she noted. "It requires a team effort to drive meaningful drug development for patients who are suffering with high unmet diseases."
Errik Anderson, M.B.A., General Partner at 82VS and Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Alloy, joins the Board of Directors. “Cantai is a great example of how our 82VS model allows us to build bespoke partnerships with top-tier investors like Agent Capital,” said Mr. Anderson. “We are excited to leverage Alloy’s high throughput antibody discovery engine to enable the capital efficient development of next-generation immune-modulating therapeutics for patients in need.”
About Agent Capital
Agent Capital is an international life sciences investment firm that supports disruptive healthcare companies focusing on novel, differentiated therapeutics and treatments that address unmet patient needs. Agent Capital aligns with scientists, entrepreneurs, and other investors to develop the next generation of healthcare innovations, leverages their industry expertise and successful track record to source premier deals, accelerate value, and drive successful exits. Their first fund invested in 15 portfolio companies, the majority of which have executed collaborations with major pharmaceutical companies and successfully raised additional capital in the private or public markets. For more information, visit www.agentcapital.com.
About 82VS
82VS is the affiliated venture studio of Alloy Therapeutics, empowering exceptional scientist-entrepreneurs building therapeutic drug companies leveraging Alloy’s platforms and services. 82VS supports teams from ideation through to company creation, discovery, financing, and scaling of their businesses. Aligned with the collaborative ecosystem ethos at Alloy, 82VS looks to partner and collaborate at every stage of the process including bringing in venture capital partners at the earliest stages of company creation.
About Alloy Bispecific Discovery Services
Alloy Therapeutics' Bispecific Discovery Service aims to democratize access to enabling platform technologies, capabilities, and expertise necessary to discover novel, developable, and therapeutically functional bispecific antibodies. At the core of this offering, Alloy has created a Common Light Chain mouse, ATX-CLC, to build bispecifics with better manufacturability and developability profiles by solving heavy and light chain pairing challenges. Alloy has demonstrated that the ATX-CLC maintains unrestricted heavy chain diversity and immune response comparable with that of the ATX-Gx platform trusted by 150+ partners. The Common Light Chain bispecific platform is integrated with Alloy's world-class expertise in protein engineering and rapid characterization and functional screening to prioritize and deliver bispecific lead candidates that can progress rapidly towards the clinic.
