May 3 Quick Takes: Clinical-stage targeted radio-antibody newco Convergent raises $90M A round
Plus: Big gain for ImmunoGen as Elahere hits mark in confirmatory study and updates from Cowen, Longwood, Morphic, Arthex and Dianthus
Convergent Therapeutics Inc., which is developing antibody-targeted radiotherapies for cancer licensed from co-founder Neil Bander’s Weill Cornell Medicine lab, announced a $90 million series A financing led by OrbiMed and RA Capital Management, with participation from Invus. Founded in 2021, Convergent's lead program is the Phase I/II-stage CONV01-α, an anti-PSMA mAb conjugated to the alpha particle emitter actinium-225, which is internalized upon PSMA binding to maximize payload delivery to target cells while minimizing damage to surrounding tissues; the company is evaluating other in-licensing and pipeline acquisition opportunities. Co-founder Philip Kantoff is CEO.
Shares of ImmunoGen Inc. (NASDAQ:IMGN) rose $7.06 (136%) to $12.26 Wednesday, lifting its market cap to $2.8 billion, after the company reported that Elahere mirvetuximab soravtansine-gynx showed a survival benefit in the Phase III MIRASOL trial to treat ovarian cancer, meeting its primary endpoint. The antibody-drug conjugate targeting FOLR1 significantly improved overall survival compared with chemotherapy, leading to median overall survival of 16.46 months vs. 12.75 months (HR=0.67; p=0.0046), and also significantly improved progression-free survival. The results set up Elahere for a regulatory submission to gain full approval from FDA; the drug has accelerated approval to treat FOLR1-positive ovarian cancer. ImmunoGen proposed after market hours to raise $200 million in a follow-on...