Triveni Bio has secured $115m in a Series B funding round to advance its preclinical antibody candidates for immunological and inflammatory diseases.
The round was led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives and included support from both returning and new investors such as Fidelity Management & Research Company and Deep Track Capital. Triveni Bio raised $92m in its Series A financing round in October 2023.
CEO Vishal Patel said the funding will accelerate the company’s candidate TRIV-573 to a proof-of-concept study. TRIV-573 is a bispecific antibody designed to target kallikrein 5/7 (KLK5/7) and interleukin 13 (IL-13). KLK5/7, a serine protease, affects processes such as skin desquamation, inflammation, and immune response while IL-13 plays integral roles in allergic inflammation and fibrosis.
The biotech’s lead candidate is TRIV-509, a KLK5/7 dual inhibitor designed to address barrier dysfunction, inflammation, and itch in atopic dermatitis (AD). Triveni expects to submit an investigational new drug (IND) application for TRIV-509 in Q1 2025.
Competitors such as Johnson & Johnson (J&J) have also made significant moves in the AD space. In May 2024, J&J paid $1.25bn for Numab Therapeutics’ IL-4R and IL-31 targeting bispecific antibody, NM26, which is currently being evaluated in a Phase I study (NCT05859724) as a treatment for AD.
GlobalData’s Pharma Intelligence Centre lists 31 ongoing and planned bispecific antibody clinical trials for immunology as of October 2024, as per GlobalData healthcare analyst, Katarina Zahedi.
GlobalData is the parent company of Pharmaceutical Technology.
As an immunotherapy class with much potential, the bispecific antibody market continues to boom in oncology. In July, Dren Bio and Novartis collaborated to discover and develop bispecific antibodies for cancer. The partnership provides the opportunity for Dren Bio to receive up to $2.85bn in milestone payments.
In August 2024, Phanes Therapeutics was granted orphan drug designation by the US Food and Drug Administration for its bispecific antibody, PT217, in the treatment of neuroendocrine carcinoma.
As of August, GlobalData’s Pharma Intelligence Centre lists 1,147 ongoing and planned bispecific antibody clinical trials for oncology. GlobalData healthcare analysts anticipate that the global cancer-treating bispecific antibody market will reach $6bn by next year.
