Alethia Biotherapeutics closes $2.2 Million financing
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Montreal: Alethia Biotherapeutics has raised a $2.2 Million in a funding round led by GO Capital Fund and BDC Venture Capital. Epicentre Technologies and Alethia founders, Yves Cornellier and Mario Filion, also participated in this internal round of financing. Yves Cornellier, President and CEO stated, "The fund will be used to advance the development of Alethia's portfolio of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies and allow us to further explore the potential of our programs to maximize their value for partnership opportunities. Furthermore, these funds represent the first step towards the completion of a Series A round that will help bring our lead therapeutics into the clinic." Alethia's monoclonal antibody programs are focused in three indications where urgent medical needs exist. The Company's most advanced monoclonal antibody targets a secreted factor called clusterin, which plays an important role in tumor progression and invasion. The lead antibody in this program was found to enhance chemotherapeutic response and inhibit metastasis in animal studies. In ovarian cancer, a monoclonal antibody is being developed against an antigen, designated AB-0447, that is over-expressed in greater than 90 percent of ovarian tumors. Studies in cancer xenografts have revealed that this antibody significantly reduces the dispersion of ovarian tumor cells, a process that remains a major clinical challenge with current standard of care. AB-0447 was identified using Alethia's discovery and validation platform, a sensitive discovery engine available for identifying novel disease- specific targets. This platform also yielded the target in its severe bone loss program, which addresses the differentiation of osteoclasts, the cells responsible for bone degradation in this disease. Monoclonal antibodies that specifically target AB-0440, a cell surface protein that is stimulated during early osteoclast differentiation, cause an inhibition of this process. Lead candidate monoclonal antibodies are currently under evaluation in animal studies.

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