UK – Engitix Ltd, a London, UK-based biopharmaceutical company with a proprietary human extracellular matrix (ECM) drug target discovery platform, closed a $54m Series A financing.
The round was co-led by existing investor Netherton Investments, and included new investor Dompé, an Italian and US-based biopharmaceutical company. Following the financing, Mike Platt, the fund manager and co-founder and Managing Director of BlueCrest Capital Management and Gianluca Rossetti, Corporate Business Development Director at Dompé, joined Engitix’s board of directors. The financing will be used to invest in Engitix’s internal drug discovery pipeline through IND-enabling studies, expand its ECM discovery platform and bioinformatics capabilities into new therapeutic areas, and to expand its team, facilities and operations.Led by Dr Giuseppe Mazza, co-founder and CEO, Engitix is developing a portfolio of internal & partnered drug discovery programs in fibrosis and solid tumours using its pioneering human extracellular matrix (ECM) platform. The company was founded in 2016 to commercialise cutting-edge research at the Institute for Liver and Digestive Health, Division of Medicine, University College London (UCL). The company is headquartered in Westworks, White City Place, London, UK.Engitix also announced a strategic collaboration with Dompé farmaceutici S.P.A., a biopharmaceutical company with next-generation chemo- and bioinformatic tools and an AI-driven drug discovery platform delivering precision engineered medicines. The deal includes a multi-programme strategic R&D collaboration to support identification of new treatments against fibrosis and liver-associated solid tumours. Engitix has established a portfolio of internal programs in primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and liver metastasis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), as well as partnered drug discovery programmes in fibrosis and solid tumours using its ECM platform. Dompé will provide direct access to facilities, resources and expertise including its Exscalate structure-based drug design platform that exploits the capabilities of the Italian supercomputer center, CINECA, to accelerate its own drug discovery and development. Engitix retains full control over its assets and programs enabling it to transition from a technology platform to a biopharmaceutical product company, with Dompé being an important shareholder and eligible for clinical and commercial milestones and royalties on marketed products developed under the collaboration.Alongside its internal pipeline, Engitix will seek to expand its pharma and biotech collaborations. It has an exclusive license agreement with Takeda in Non-Alcoholic SteatoHepatitis (NASH) and liver fibrosis worth more than $500m biodollars, and a previous partnership with Morphic Therapeutics in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).19/01/2022
