March 12, 2015
By Riley McDermid, BioSpace.com Breaking News Sr. Editor
Another round of venture capital has infused the Bay Area, after food allergy privately held biopharmaceutical Allergen Research Corporation (ARC) said Thursday that it had completed an $80 million Series B financing from a roster of marquee-name biotech VCs.
The San Mateo, Calif.-based Allergen said Foresite Capital led the round, with participation from existing investor Longitude Capital and new investors Fidelity Management & Research Company, Aisling Capital, Adage Capital, RA Capital Management and Palo Alto Investors.
As part of the deal Jim Tananbaum, chief executive and managing director of Foresite Capital, and Stacey Seltzer, partner at Aisling Capital, have joined the ARC board of directors.
“Food allergies are a real, growing problem and a space we’ve been following for a while. ARC is developing an extremely promising option that could provide an unprecedented solution for families and physicians managing the stresses of food allergy avoidance and the dangers of accidental exposure,” said Tananbaum.
Allergen said it plough the money back into a Phase II clinical trial of its lead candidate, AR 101, a standardized, pharmaceutical-grade peanut protein formulation for treating peanut allergy via characterized oral desensitization immunotherapy. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has already granted AR 101 Fast Track designation and Allergen said it will begin clinical trials for treatment of egg and milk allergies in the coming year.
“This financing equips us to advance AR 101 through our planned Phase III clinical trial and the rigorous FDA approval process as well as to begin development of novel oral immunotherapy products for other food allergies,” said ARC CEO Stephen Dilly.
A well-known biotech investor, Tananbaum founded Foresite Capital in 2011 specifically to target healthcare companies. Previously he was the founder and CEO of Theravance and GelTex Pharmaceuticals, while Seltzer, who joined Aisling Capital in 2008, previously held positions in business development, marketing and sales with Schering-Plough and Akceli and was a management consultant for McKinsey & Company.
“ARC is a great example of companies we finance: ARC has a solid management team with deep industry experience, a transformative product with strong Phase 2 data, and the potential to solve a real-world problem in a large market,” said Tananbaum. “We are excited to support ARC as it takes the final steps toward turning decades of research into products and therapies to help patients suffering from food allergies.”
Allergen has already completed a well-received Phase II clinical trial to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of AR 101 for the treatment of peanut allergy in children and adults.
“People living with food allergies, many of whom are children, are at risk of life-threatening reactions to common everyday foods. Specifically, about a million children in the United States are allergic to peanuts. We are dedicated to developing standardized products for desensitization so that people and families living with food allergies can gain peace of mind,” said Dilly.
The company closed a $17 million Series A financing in November 2013, led by Longitude Capital and food allergy nonprofit Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE).
“We believe that ARC will make a dramatic difference in the lives of food allergy patients, and we’re eager to see that happen,” said Patrick Enright, managing director of Longitude Capital and a member of the ARC board of directors. “Avoidance and epinephrine are not enough. ARC’s oral immunotherapy platform has the potential to introduce a margin of safety for millions of people managing food allergies, and thus reduce stress and improve their overall quality of life.”
BioSpace Temperature Poll
Vertex Pharmaceuticals made news last week when it terminated leases on three properties in Cambridge, Mass, that freed up 313,000 square feet of space in the Genetown area. The company has spent a significant part of 2014 consolidating its operations on the South Boston waterfront, leasing 291,000 square feet of office space at West Kendall Street in Cambridge’s Kendall Square. So we wanted to ask the BioSpace community: Is Boston going to be getting more biotech leases anytime soon, or fewer tenants?
