Asgard Therapeutics raises EUR 6M in Seed Financing to exploit direct in vivo reprogramming

Asgard Therapeutics AB announces the completion of a EUR 6 million seed financing round. The financing was co-led by Novo Holdings, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund and Industrifonden.

• Round co-led by Novo Holdings, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund and Industrifonden
• Company developing in vivo immune cell reprogramming technology to reinstate anti-cancer immunity
• Funds will be used to further develop off-the-shelf and personalized therapy programs for multiple oncology indications

Lund, Sweden – 09 November  – Asgard Therapeutics AB (“Asgard”), a private biotech company pioneering in vivo cell reprogramming approaches to elicit potent anti-cancer immune responses, today announces the completion of a EUR 6 million seed financing round. The financing was co-led by Novo Holdings, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund and Industrifonden.

Asgard is developing a paradigm-shifting cancer immunotherapy approach, based on its proprietary TrojanDC technology, to reinstate cancer immunogenicity. TrojanDC is a gene therapy that reprograms cancer cells into type-1 conventional dendritic cells, allowing the presentation of their own antigens to the immune system, thereby eliciting potent anti-cancer immune responses. Designed as an off-the-shelf gene therapy, TrojanDC induces a personalized immune response, and overcomes many of the logistic and manufacturing hurdles of conventional cell-based therapies. 

The Company originated from Lund University’s Cell Reprogramming and Immunity lab, led by Professor Filipe Pereira PhD, who is also Asgard’s Co-Founder and Head of Innovation. Cristiana Pires PhD and Fábio Rosa PhD established the seminal work describing direct reprogramming of somatic cells published in the prestigious science journal Science Immunology. 

Cristiana Pires, PhD, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Asgard Therapeutics, said: “At Asgard, we are committed to surpassing the challenges of current cancer immunotherapies, making them available for every patient. The support we have received from such a strong syndicate of life science investors, is a strong endorsement to the potential of our TrojanDC technology. The financing will enable us to expand our pipeline of preclinical assets and build on our commitment to making personalized cancer immunotherapies optimized to each unique patient.”

João Ribas from Novo Seeds commented: “We are very pleased to co-lead this financing and support the translation of the founders’ scientific research at Lund University. While reprogramming approaches have been mainly restricted to regenerative medicine, the work of Filipe, Cristiana and their team opens exciting opportunities to merge the fields of cell reprogramming and cancer immunotherapy that can be applied to several cancers, representing a platform technology with enormous potential. We look forward to working with the Asgard team as they pioneer a new generation of cancer immunotherapy”.

DOI: 10.1126/sciimmunol.aau4292

Philipp Müller from Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund commented: “We are excited to support Asgard Therapeutics and its founder team as co-lead of this seed investment. The seminal work conducted at Lund University by Cristiana Pires, Filipe Pereira, and Fábio Rosa enables the direct conversion of non-related somatic cells into antigen presenting cells with a completely novel cellular identity. We believe this approach holds the potential to significantly impact the way cancer immunotherapy will evolve in the future and to bring new treatment options with true breakthrough potential to cancer patients in need.”

Bita Sehat from Industrifonden said: “Asgard’s novel gene therapy approach to reprogram cancer cells into antigen-presenting cells holds great promise to open up new avenues within the immune-oncology space. We are pleased to co-lead this round and look forward to partnering with this strong group of investors and distinguished scientists as the co-founding team to advance what we believe will be a broadly applicable new cancer treatment platform.”

Asgard Therapeutics has received support from LU Innovation and several translational grants, including from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 and the Swedish Innovation Agency Vinnova. Asgard Therapeutics is also supported by the BioInnovation Institute in Copenhagen, and a member of the Nordic Mentor Network for Entrepreneurship (NOME) mentoring program. Being a SmiLe incubator company, Asgard is now setting up a new lab at SmiLe, Medicon Village, and will be expanding its research and drug development teams.

As part of the transaction, Søren Møller (Novo Holdings), Philipp Müller (BIVF) and Jonas Jendi (Industrifonden) join current Board Members Filipe Pereira and Lars Hedbys. João Ribas (Novo Holdings) and Fábio Rosa (Asgard Therapeutics) will also join as Board Observers. 

ENDS

Enquiries
For more information please contact:

Asgard Therapeutics
Cristiana Pires, Co-founder and CEO
+46 (0) 731 566 072
cristiana.pires@asgardthx.com

Optimum Strategic Communications
Hollie Vile, Manel Mateus, Vici Rabbetts 
+44 (0) 20 8078 4357 
novo@optimumcomms.com

About Asgard Therapeutics

Asgard Therapeutics is a private biotech company exploring the application of direct cell reprogramming technologies for cancer immunotherapies. Formed as a spin-off from Lund University, the Company is pioneering a gene therapy approach based on its proprietary TrojanDC technology, designed to set in motion immune responses based on the biological properties of professional antigen presenting cells. Backed by Novo Holdings, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund and Industrifonden, Asgard aims to build a pipeline of personalized cancer immunotherapies optimized to each unique patient. For more information, please visit: http://asgardthx.com/ 

About Novo Holdings A/S

Novo Holdings A/S is a private limited liability company wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. It is the holding company of the Novo Group, comprising Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S, and is responsible for managing the Novo Nordisk Foundation’s assets.

Novo Holdings is recognized as a leading international life science investor, with a focus on creating long-term value. As a life science investor, Novo Holdings provides seed and venture capital to development-stage companies and takes significant ownership positions in growth and well-established companies. Novo Holdings also manages a broad portfolio of diversified financial assets. Further information: www.novoholdings.dk.

About Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund 

Created in 2010, the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund GmbH (BIVF) invests in groundbreaking therapeutics-focused biotechnology companies to drive innovation in biomedical research. BIVF is searching for significant enhancements in patient care through pioneering science and its clinical translation by building long-term relationships with scientists and entrepreneurs. BIVF’s focus is to target unprecedented therapeutic concepts addressing high medical needs in immuno-oncology, regenerative medicine, infectious diseases, and digital health. For more information, visit www.boehringer-ingelheim-venture.com.

About Industrifonden

Industrifonden is a Nordic venture capital investor based in Stockholm. Industrifonden invests in breakthrough technologies and science-based innovation – the Industry of Tomorrow. Our areas of expertise include Life Sciences, Deep Tech and Transformative Tech. Within the Life Sciences space, our focus is on biotech, heathtech and medtech. We invest in early growth stages, seed to B round funding. We believe in being an active investor and in sharing our 40 years’ experience of scaling and growth. For more information visit: www.industrifonden.com