Rakuten Medical, a San Diego, CA-based biotechnology company developing and commercializing precision, cell targeting therapies based on its proprietary Alluminox™ platform, raised $119M in Series E funding.
The round, including $45M in new capital and the conversion of $74M of convertible promissory notes with accrued interest, saw participation from Hikma, Mizuho Bank and Dai-ichi Life, as well as additional investments by SBI Group, Rakuten Group and its Chairman and CEO, Mickey Mikitani.
The company intends to use the funds to:
- continue to make efforts to accelerate its global Phase 3 clinical trial (ASP-1929-301 study, ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03769506) of Alluminox treatment (photoimmunotherapy) using ASP-1929, with the goal of achieving approval of ASP-1929 in the United States and several other countries and regions as soon as possible
- support ongoing clinical trials and initiating new studies for Alluminox treatment using its three key assets (ASP-1929, RM-1995, and RM-0256), including combination therapy with anti-PD-1, which has shown promising early data that Rakuten Medical believes warrant additional clinical studies
- in-house discover new drug conjugates under its drug discovery program, Alluminox Palette™
- develop new medical devices to improve treatment in the clinic and trials
- leverage learnings and experience from Alluminox treatment in the commercial setting in Japan in an effort to improve patient outcomes and for further understanding and development of this treatment technology
Rakuten Medical is a global biotechnology company developing and commercializing precision, cell targeting therapies based on its proprietary Alluminox™ platform, which, in pre-clinical studies, has been shown to induce rapid and selective cell killing and tumor necrosis. Alluminox therapies have not yet been approved outside of Japan.
The company has offices in 5 countries, including the United States, where it is headquartered, Japan, Taiwan, Switzerland and India.
FinSMEs
07/03/2024