Landos Biopharma secures $60m in Series B financing round

Landos Biopharma, a US clinical-stage pharma company focused on the discovery and development of oral therapeutics for autoimmune diseases, has closed a $60 million Series B financing round.

The financing round was co-led by RTW Investments and Perceptive Advisors (Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Fund and Perceptive Life Sciences Fund). Osage University Partners and PBM Capital were among the additional new investors during the financing round.

Dr. Josep Bassaganya-Riera – Chairman of the Board, President, and CEO of Landos Biopharma said: “This financing is an important part of our strategy to advance lead product BT-11 into global Phase 2 clinical trials for ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. There is an unmet clinical need for new therapies for complex diseases such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

“We are pleased that our investors share Landos’ mission of accelerating drug development and serving the unmet needs of millions of patients living with these widespread and debilitating conditions.”

Landos Biopharma has wrapped up $60 million dollar Series B financing co-led by RTW Investments and Perceptive Advisors. Photo courtesy of Business Wire.

Landos Biopharma says that the financing will support its phase 2 global clinical trials for BT-11 in ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. BT-11 is an oral, gut-restricted small molecule therapeutic which has been designed to target a pathway called Lanthionine Synthetase C-Like 2 (LANCL2).

An earlier phase 1 clinical trial showed BT-11 to be well-tolerated. According to Landos Biopharma, fecal calprotectin levels, which the company believes to be a predictive biomarker of response to treatment in IBD, were less in all BT-11-treated patients when compared to placebo. The company said that it thinks that this activity gives initial biomarker evidence of response to treatment.

Rod Wong – managing partner at RTW Investments said: “We believe BT-11’s mechanism of action is differentiated with the potential to transform the current treatment paradigm for patients with ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.

“RTW is excited to support Landos as it continues its growth trajectory as a business and advances the science driving BT-11.”

Headquartered in Blacksburg, Virginia, Landos Biopharma has a pipeline of new compounds for other autoimmune diseases, many of which the company expects to advance to IND and phase 1 clinical testing in the coming year.