Harbour BioMed Raises $102 Million to Support Development Programs

Harbour Biomed closed a $102 million Series C funding round that will be used to advance the company’s oncology and immunology portfolio. The latest funding round came hard on the heels of $75 million the company raised in March, giving the company a total of $177 million raised in the first half of 2020.

Cambridge, Mass.-based Harbour said the funding will accelerate the development of its portfolio, including monoclonal antibodies being assessed against COVID-19. Harbour BioMed has multiple assets in development, including its lead Phase III-ready program, HBM9036 (Tanfanercept), a novel TNF receptor-1 fragment to treat dry eye disease through the inhibition of TNFα. Phase II studies showed HBM9036 demonstrated both clinical efficacy and safety in treating moderate-to-severe dry eye disease. The company is planning to launch a Phase III registration trial in China. Harbour is also developing the Phase II asset, HBM9161 (Batoclimab), a first-in-class fully human anti-FcRn mAb, that significantly reduces pathogenic IgG, for the treatment of a variety of autoimmune indications. The company assessing tHBM9161 as a treatment for myasthenia gravis, neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder, immune thrombocytopenia and Graves‘ ophthalmopathy.

Another program in the clinic is HBM4003, a next-generation anti-CTLA4 mAb in Phase I clinical studies for the treatment of advanced solid tumors. The molecule is the first of several fully human mAbs in development at Harbour BioMed based on the company’s heavy chain only (HCAb) technology.

For COVID-19, Harbour recently announced a research collaboration with AbbVie for a monoclonal antibody for therapeutic/prophylactic use against SARS-CoV2. In addition, the company also has an ongoing collaboration with Mt. Sinai Health System in New York for discovering antibodies against SARS-CoV2 using its proprietary H2L2 Harbour Mice platform.

“We have made great progress with our clinical programs and multiple promising, bi- and monospecific antibodies from our discovery engine that are rapidly moving towards clinical trials. The funding will support final development and initial commercialization of our late-stage portfolio and advancement of both our earlier stage discovery and preclinical molecules,” Jingsong Wang, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Harbour BioMed said in a statement.

Wang thanked the company’s investors, who he said have faith in the company’s clinical portfolio, our antibody discovery and development engine. Jo-Wen Lin, Asian Healthcare Portfolio Manager at Hudson Bay Capital, which led the Series C round, said Harbour BioMed’s “innovative approach, with next-generation technologies that target unmet medical needs, presents an exciting growth opportunity.”

The Series C financing round was led by Hudson Bay Capital and followed by OrbiMed, Country Garden VC, GTJA Investment Group, Octagon Capital, and Sage Partners, with additional investment from existing investor Greater Bay Area Investment Fund.

“Harbour BioMed has built an impressive clinical pipeline and at the same time created a solid foundation for next-generation therapeutics through its transgenic mouse platforms. These preclinical programs along with the company’s clinical assets create new opportunities targeting major indications with substantial global medical needs,” Iris Wang, Managing Director of OrbiMed Asia, said in a statement.