Themis has raised €40 million ($44 million). The Merck-backed series D
positions Themis to take its chikungunya vaccine through a phase 3
trial and move the lead candidate from its immuno-oncology R&D
program into humans.
Austria’s Themis filed to raise €40 million through an IPO in
Amsterdam last year only to hit pause on the plan in the face of
“adverse market conditions.” The u-turn left Themis without the vast
majority of the €30 million it planned to set aside for the phase 3
chikungunya vaccine trial, forcing it to look into “all strategic
options” to fund further development.
Last month, Merck’s investment in Themis as part of a $200 million
vaccine R&D deal made it clear that the biotech was lining up a
private financing round. Now, Themis has shared further details of the
round.
Themis has raised €40 million in a series D round co-led by new
backers Farallon Capital and Hadean Ventures, which are respectively
based in the U.S. and Scandinavia. Merck and Adjuvant Capital, both of
which are U.S.-based, also invested in Themis for the first time,
resulting in the biotech bringing in significant funding from North
America.
“We definitely wanted to broaden our investor base and increase our
financial flexibility. It was a deliberate decision to look for U.S.
investors,” Themis CEO Erich Tauber said.
Existing members of the biotech’s syndicate such as Global Health
Investment Fund, which led a €10 million series C at the start of last
year, also participated, giving Themis €40 million to run a phase 3
chikungunya trial while advancing multiple other programs. Themis
already has vaccines against Zika and Lassa fever in the clinic and has
other infectious disease candidates in preclinical testing.
The chikungunya phase 3 is due to start in the coming months, enroll
thousands of participants and deliver data around the middle of next
year. Themis is considering taking the vaccine to market itself.
“It’s definitely a possibility to market a product like chikungunya
as a small company. Another model is to partner this globally or
regionally. We are working on all three tracks right now,” Tauber said.
Themis is also applying its measles technology to oncology, adding
immune modulators and other agents to augment the natural oncolytic
activity of the virus. The oncology R&D program started last year
and, by leveraging the same manufacturing platform as the infectious
disease pipeline, Themis has moved forward quickly. Two oncology drugs
are due to enter the clinic by the end of next year.
Source. BioFierce, Nick Paul Taylor, September, 18, 2019
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