Jeito Capital leads a $105 million Series C financing in Alentis Therapeutics to advance transformational medicines for claudin-1 in cancer & fibrosis
- Funds will support the Phase I/II clinical development of Alentis’ two first-in-class anti-Claudin-1 (CLDN1) antibodies for organ fibrosis and CLDN1 positive tumors, and CLDN1 platform development
- After its investment 2 years ago, Jeito Capital amplifies its partnership with Alentis Therapeutics, the leading player in CLDN1, in line with its strategy to grow companies and build potential market leaders to bring much needed treatments to benefit patients
Paris, France, April 13th 2023 – Jeito Capital (“Jeito”), the largest fully independent private equity firm dedicated to healthcare and biopharma in Europe, announced today that it has led a $105 million (€96 million) Series C financing in Alentis Therapeutics (“Alentis” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage biotech spun out of INSERM, based in Basel (Switzerland) with R&D in Strasbourg (France), that is developing breakthrough treatments for organ fibrosis and CLDN1 positive tumors. CLDN1, as part of the claudin family of transmembrane proteins, is a previously unexploited target that plays a key role in the physio-pathology of a broad range of solid tumors with immune evasive properties and fibrotic diseases across multiple organs.
The financing was led by Jeito together with Novo Holdings A/S and RA Capital Management with participation from existing investors including BB Pureos Bioventures, Bpifrance through its InnoBio 2 fund and Schroders Capital. Proceeds will be used to support the Phase II program of Alentis’ lead investigational products, ALE.F02, currently in development for the treatment of advanced kidney, lung and liver fibrosis, and the Phase I program of its lead oncology asset, ALE.C04, the first potential treatment to target CLDN1 positive (CLDN1+) tumors. Funds will also be used to develop the Company’s platform to engineer CLDN1 antibody drug conjugates (ADC) and bi-specific antibodies. The Claudin space in oncology has recently seen the success of CLDN-18.2 in gastric cancers. CLDN-1 has the advantage of a much broader expression profile, highlighting Alentis’ growth potential and significant commercial potential.
Jeito became a key investor in Alentis as part of a $67 million Series B financing in June 2021. Since then, Alentis has made significant progress. The Company’s Phase I multiple ascending dose study for ALE.F02 is expected to reach completion imminently. Alentis has also clearly defined the CLDN1+ cancer patient population, including T-cell excluded cancers, as the target for developing its ALE.C04 oncology treatment. The Company has established a platform to engineer CLDN1 ADCs (antibody drug conjugates) and bi-specific antibodies and has expanded its team in France, Switzerland and the US.
Dr. Rafaèle Tordjman, MD, PhD, Founder and CEO of Jeito Capital, commented “Claudin-1 has enormous potential in multiple areas of fibrosis and across a broad range of cancers and, with Jeito’s support, Alentis has made significant progress over the past two years in identifying target populations while developing programs and advancing the platform. We are committed to continuing our partnership with the outstanding Alentis team as they are the leading player in the CLDN1 space and are well positioned to generate meaningful clinical data.“
Dr. Roberto Iacone, CEO at Alentis Therapeutics, said: “We are absolutely delighted with this support from our investors. There are huge unmet needs in organ fibrosis and cancer, and this funding enables us to continue with the important work we’re doing in the CLDN1 space and generate clinical data from both our programs. We can now aggressively develop CLDN1 biology in oncology and continue with the recruitment of our organ fibrosis trials while advancing our ADC and bi-specific antibodies.”
About Jeito Capital
Jeito Capital is a global leading Private Equity company with a patient benefit driven approach that finances and accelerates the development and growth of ground-breaking medical innovation. Jeito empowers and supports managers through its expert, integrated, multi-talented team and through the investment of significant capital to ensure the growth of companies, building market leaders in their respective therapeutic areas with accelerated patients’ access globally, especially in Europe and the United States. Jeito Capital has €534 million under management and a rapidly growing portfolio of investments. Jeito Capital is based in Paris with a presence in Europe and the United States.
@Jeito_lifeLinkedInFor more information, please visit www.jeito.life, or follow @Jeito_life on Twitter or LinkedIn.
About Alentis Therapeutics
Alentis Therapeutics, the CLDN1 company, is a clinical-stage biotechnology company that focuses on developing breakthrough treatments for CLDN1+ tumors and organ fibrosis. Alentis is pioneering a novel approach to modify and reverse the course of disease progression targeting CLDN1, a previously unexploited target that plays a key role in the pathology of tumors with immune evasive properties and fibrotic disease across multiple organs.
Alentis is the only company developing potential treatments for solid cancers and fibrosis targeting CLDN1. The company was founded in 2019 based on ground-breaking research in the laboratory of Prof. Thomas Baumert MD at the University of Strasbourg and the French National Institute of Health (Inserm). Alentis is headquartered in Basel’s pharma-biotech hub in Switzerland with an R&D subsidiary in Strasbourg, France and clinical operations in the US.
Visit https://alentis.ch
For further information please contact:
Jeito Capital
Rafaèle Tordjman, Founder & CEO
Assia Mouhout, EA
Tel : +33 6 76 49 37 94
Consilium Strategic Communications Mary-Jane Elliott / Davide Salvi / Kris Lam
Jeito@consilium-comms.com
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3709 5700
Marion Bougeard
marion@achto-conseil.fr
Tel : +33 6 76 73 57 31 
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