Two months after former Seagen CEO David Epstein unveiled his new project, the biotech has secured "over" $140 million in series A funds to push forward its potential Keytruda contender.
Ottimo was born in 2020 out of a collaboration between investment firm Medicxi and biotech entrepreneur Jonny Finlay. Medicxi participated in today's series A fundraise along with RTW Investments, Decheng Capital, Janus Henderson Investors, J.P. Morgan Life Sciences Private Capital and Invus. The round was led by OrbiMed, Avoro Capital and Samsara BioCapital.
The biotech emerged from stealth in October, led by Epstein, who had overseen antibody-drug conjugate specialist Seagen until it was sold to Pfizer in an eye-raising $43 billion deal. Epstein heads up an all-star leadership team at Ottimo that includes Boehringer Ingelheim’s former chief medical officer Mehdi Shahidi, M.D., as head of development and chief medical officer, plus BioMarin’s chief business officer James Sabry, M.D., Ph.D., who serves as board vice-chair.
Today’s fundraise saw the company expand its team with the likes of Rick Anderson, who served alongside Epstein as vice president and corporate controller at Seagen, as senior vice president of finance.
The series A funds have been earmarked to “accelerate” Ottimo’s lead asset, a PD1-VEGFR2 bifunctional antibody called jankistomig. The company has plans to submit an IND filing in “late 2025” for the candidate, which is designed to target immune checkpoint inhibition and angiogenesis—or the formation of new blood vessels—as a dual-pathway, single agent, immunoglobulin replacement therapy.
The hope is that blocking both the PD1 and VEGF pathways can boost tumor immune cell biodistribution while minimizing VEGF-related adverse effects, all in the name of improving cancer treatment outcomes and reducing healthcare burden.
On paper, jankistomig sounds similar to Summit Therapeutics’ Akeso-partnered PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibody ivonescimab, which bested Merck’s oncology powerhouse Keytruda in September in previously untreated, PD-L1-positive non-small cell lung cancer. However, Epstein has previously said jankistomig hits its targets in a “very different way” to Summit's drug.
“The successful completion of our series A financing marks a milestone for Ottimo as we advance our goal to make first-in-class bifunctional medicines to extend the lives of people living with cancer,” Epstein said in his morning’s release. “Jankistomig represents a significant breakthrough with its novel design and mechanism of action, and we are incredibly grateful to have the backing of such well-renowned healthcare investors.”