Swiss biotech Memo Therapeutics raised $22 million (CHF 20 million) in a Series C extension to develop an antibody treatment for BK polyomavirus (BKV) infection in kidney transplant recipients, a condition that currently doesn’t have any approved treatments.
Last year, Memo raised about $27.6 million (CHF 25 million) in a Series C financing round, bringing the total raised for the company to $49.6 million (CHF 45 million). Ysios Capital and Kurma Partners participated in the extension round, joining existing investors that included Pureos Bioventures and Swisscanto, among others.
Memo will use the new cash infusion to move its lead candidate, a neutralizing antibody dubbed AntiBKV, into an expansion of its Phase 2 trial that will include a dose evaluation. That makes it the largest BKV therapeutic study ever conducted in kidney transplant patients, according to Memo. Data from the trial are expected in the first half of next year.
The company added in a statement that there is a potential $1 billion-plus market for BKV, which can become reactivated in immunosuppressed kidney transplant patients and cause major health issues and complications, including loss of kidney function, as well as kidney rejection.
Memo CEO Erik van den Berg told Endpoints News in an interview that anywhere between 20% and 50% of kidney transplant patients experience BK viremia, leading to faster loss of the organ. Currently, physicians will lower patients’ immunosuppression in order to fight the virus, but it’s not a complete solution, as BKV will continue to damage the kidney.
“Getting a very safe and well-tolerated antibody that’s going to address specifically the BK virus is clearly addressing an unmet medical need,” van den Berg said. “We’re expanding the Phase 2 from 60 patients to 90 patients, and we’re setting the goal to be the largest study ever conducted in this specific field of BK viremia.”
Van den Berg added that the company anticipates a Phase 3 study by the end of next year, and the company is open to a partnership in additional studies or commercialization.
The funding will also support the development of Memo’s other pipeline assets: antibodies selected using its B cell screening platform for other viral infections and cancer.