Landos said the funds will be used to advance its lead asset, BT-11, into global Phase II clinical trials for ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.
In 2017, Chris Garabedian, the former president and chief executive officer of Sarepta Therapeutics, launched the Boston-based life sciences accelerator, Xontogeny with $25 million from investors. Shortly afterward, the accelerator’s first company, Landos Biopharma launched with a $10 million investment round.
Since that launch, Landos has grown On Wednesday, Blacksburg, Va.-based Landos netted $60 million in a Series B financing round. Landos said the funds will be used to advance its lead asset, BT-11, into global Phase II clinical trials for ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. BT-11 is a first-in-class, oral, gut-restricted small molecule therapeutic with a unique mechanism of action that targets a novel pathway called Lanthionine Synthetase C-Like 2 (LANCL2).
Josep Bassaganya-Riera, chairman and chief executive officer of Landos, said there are unmet needs in inflammatory bowel disease and he is pleased that the participants in the Series B support the company’s mission to develop treatments for the “unmet needs of millions of patients living with these widespread and debilitating conditions.”
In May, Landos published data from its Phase I trial of BT-11 in IBD Journal. Data from the Phase I trial showed that the compound was well-tolerated with no dose-limiting toxicities, and no detectable systemic immunosuppression at the 100 mg dosing level. Landos said fecal calprotectin levels, which it believes is a predictive biomarker of response to treatment in IBD, were lower in all BT-11-treated groups when compared to placebo. The company added that it believes this kind of activity “provides initial biomarker evidence of response to treatment.”
That activity was enough to satisfy investors who plunked down funds to support the continued development of BT-11. The $60 million funding was supported by RTW Investments, Perceptive Advisors, which is comprised of Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Fund and Perceptive Life Sciences Fund, and Osage University Partners.
Rod Wong, a managing partner of RTW Investments, said he believes BT-11’s mechanism of action is differentiated and has the potential to “transform the current treatment paradigm” for patients diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. Wong said RTW was excited to support Landos as it continues to advance BT-11 through the clinic.
Garabedian, who is the portfolio manager of Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Fund and also serves on the board of directors of Landos, said he believes there is a “tremendous commercial potential” for an oral IBD compound like BT-11. At this stage of development, Garabedian said BR-11 is the most promising candidate he has seen.
“As an investor in the Series A, we are impressed with the productivity and efficiency of the Landos team in completing a comprehensive preclinical program, securing two open INDs, and successfully generating Phase I clinical results in less than two years, and are prepared to move forward with two global Phase II studies in ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease,” Garabedian said in a statement.
