Landos Biopharma, the Blacksburg, Virginia clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company recently raised $60 million in a round of fundraising.
The Series B round was co-led by RTW Investments and Perceptive Advisors. New investors Osage University Partners and PBM Capital also participated in the fundraising. Proceeds from the funding will go to support Landos’ Phase 2 global clinical trials for BT-11 which is an oral, gut-restricted small molecule therapeutic that targets a novel pathway called Lanthionine Synthetase C-Like 2 (LANCL2). A Phase 1 clinical trial of the therapy showed the compound was well-tolerated, the company said in a press release announcing the funding.
“This financing is an important part of our strategy to advance lead product BT-11 into global Phase 2 clinical trials for ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease,” said Dr. Josep Bassaganya-Riera, Chairman of the Board, President, and CEO of Landos when announcing the funding. “There is an unmet clinical need for new therapies for complex diseases such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease. We are pleased that our investors share Landos’ mission of accelerating drug development and serving the unmet needs of millions of patients living with these widespread and debilitating conditions.”
Landos is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that’s focused on the discovery and development of oral therapeutics for people with autoimmune diseases. In addition to BT-11, which is already in Phase 2 trials, the company has a pipeline of new compounds for other autoimmune diseases, many of which the company believes will advance to IND and Phase 1 trials in 2020.
Shortly after announcing it raised $60 million in August, the company announced the dosing of its first patient in a Phase 2 study evaluating the safety and efficacy of BT-11. It's being tested in patients with mild to moderate ulcerative colitis. Calling it a milestone, the company said it's excited to begin its first study in patients to better understand the clinical utility of BT-11 in treating ulcerative colitis.
“The medical community has long recognized the unmet need for safer, more convenient, and effective therapeutic alternatives to treating patients with ulcerative colitis,” said Jean-Frederic Colombel, MD, a Landos Clinical Advisory Board member, world-renowned Gastroenterologist and Director of the IBD Center at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in a press release announcing the kick-off of the Phase 2 trial. “The Phase 1 data are consistent with a benign safety profile without systemic immunosuppression and an initial efficacy signal based on lower fecal calprotectin levels. If BT-11 shows efficacy in Phase 2/3 clinical trials, it could ultimately provide long-term benefit for millions of people living with IBD.”
