immatics biotechnologies closes €34 million Series D financing round

immatics biotechnologies GmbH, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing advanced multi-peptide cancer vaccines that are active against cancer, today announced that it has closed a €34 million Series D financing round.

The funding round was supported by existing investors including dievini Hopp Biotech holding, Wellington Partners, MIG-advised funds and AT Impf GmbH. Under the terms of the fundraising, immatics will receive the first €12 million tranche of funding immediately.

The new funds will enable immatics to conclude the development of its lead vaccine IMA901, including completing all of the activities necessary to prepare for regulatory filings in the US and Europe. IMA901 - a cancer vaccine comprising 10 different tumor-associated peptides (TUMAPs) that are found to be highly over-expressed in the majority of patients suffering from renal cell carcinoma (RCC) - is in a pivotal phase 3 trial. It has orphan drug designation in the US and Europe for the treatment of RCC in HLA-A*02 positive patients.

The phase 3 trial is designed to evaluate overall survival with IMA901 in combination with sunitinib (Sutent®, Pfizer), the current standard first-line therapy, compared with sunitinib alone in patients with metastatic and/or locally advanced RCC. The trial has completed inclusion of 339 patients at sites in the US and Europe. Interim overall survival results are expected in 2014, with final data in 2015.      

The phase 3 trial builds on the positive phase 2 study with IMA901 in advanced RCC patients. The trial showed that patients who produced an immune response to two or more of the TUMAPs contained in IMA901 had a significantly longer survival, as published in Nature Medicine in 2012.

Paul Higham, CEO of immatics, said: "We are pleased that our existing investors have demonstrated their continued confidence in immatics and the novel cancer vaccines that we are able to generate using our unique, rational TUMAP-based approach to cancer immunotherapy. This financing will allow us to complete the full phase 3 development of IMA901 and prepare regulatory submission packages for the US and Europe. There is a clear need for novel cancer therapies that can deliver prolonged survival while maintaining a good quality of life. We remain hopeful that IMA901 will deliver a significant improvement for patients with renal cell cancer."

Peter Chambré, Chairman of immatics' Board, said: "The IMA901 results to date have demonstrated that immatics' vaccines have the potential to significantly extend the life of renal cancer patients. I am delighted that our current investors have committed to backing what we believe is a very promising cancer vaccine portfolio and cancer immunotherapy approach and look forward to the IMA901 phase 3 results in the near future."