CellCentric Ltd.

CellCentric CEO Will West said the funds will allow the company to “carry out a full registration program without looking over our shoulders.\"\n In the last three years, CellCentric CEO Will West has been on a journey that has transformed how he thinks about the future of his company. He used to be “obsessed with pharma deals,” he told Fierce Biotech. Now, the clinical-stage biotech has enough runway to stay independent and take its drug to market.CellCentric has raised an oversubscribed $220 million series D financing to advance inobrodib, its first-in-class oral small-molecule inhibitor targeting p300/CBP for the treatment of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM) and other cancers, according to a May 6 release.The raise was led by Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, with participation from Fidelity Management & Research Company, Sofinnova Partners and HBM Healthcare, along with existing investors RA Capital Management, Forbion, Pfizer, Avego Bioscience Capital and American Cancer Society BrightEdge.The funding syndicate, West said, is strong enough to support an IPO if the company decides that is the best next step. “We had a lot of term sheets that we turned down from smaller funds,” West said. “We were in a privileged position.”West said the funds will allow the company to “carry out a full registration program without looking over our shoulders.” That includes supporting two registration-enabling trials and continued development of the p300/CBP inhibitor.Cambridge, England-based CellCentric is currently enrolling U.K. and U.S. patients in a phase 2 trial studying inobrodib in combination with pomalidomide and dexamethasone (InoPd) in multiple myeloma patients. The round will support this trial, an upcoming global phase 3 trial in the second half of this year and tests in additional combinations and treatment settings. Phase 2 data shared in December at the American Society of Hematology demonstrated that 20-mg inobrodib in combination with pomalidomide and dexamethasone resulted in at least a two-fold increase in response rates compared to alternative therapies for patients with heavily pretreated RRMM. West said that 70% of myeloma patients are treated in a community-based setting rather than large academic centers. The oral drug is designed to be taken at home without intensive monitoring. “The fact that we\'re all well-tolerated means there\'s a clear commercial landing point for this,” he said.Multiple myeloma candidates received a boost from the FDA earlier this year when the agency issued draft guidance for the potential use of minimal residual disease and complete response as acceptable endpoints to accelerate the approval of myeloma drugs.CellCentric’s inobrodib isn’t alone in its quest to offer options to patients with RRMM. Bristol Myers Squibb scored two phase 3 wins via drugs developed with its Cereblon E3 ligase modulator program.With enough cash to last through 2029, West said an IPO is a possibility next year, but the company is also having parallel conversations about M&A. What’s different after the latest fundraise and recent data is that CellCentric can choose its own destiny. “We don\'t have to get forced into a corner or do anything that we don\'t want to do,” West said. “Our investors have a strong belief in the product and can support the company long term.”

CellCentric has reeled in a massive fund to help it address multiple myeloma patients who have exhausted all other treatment options. The 22-year-old transatlantic biotech has collected a $220 million Series D to finish its Phase 2, conduct a large, global Phase 3, and prepare for commercialization of its experimental pill called inobrodib, CEO Will West told Endpoints News . Investors came knocking after “quite encouraging data” on the p300/CBP inhibitor were presented at the American Society of Hematology annual meeting in December, West said. “The round then just had so much interest. It was slightly ridiculous, really,” he added. “I’ve never been in that situation before.” The raise will back an ongoing Phase 2 called DOMMINO-1 . A Phase 3 trial, dubbed DOMMINO-2, was cleared by the FDA on March 11 and will begin this summer. That recent milestone solidified investors’ interest, West said. The Phase 3 will include about 200 trial sites and will test inobrodib in combination with the anticancer drug pomalidomide and the corticosteroid dexamethasone. Its primary goal will be progression-free survival, West said. With its latest raise, West has brought together a group of investors that could propel CellCentric onto the Nasdaq next year. That includes Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Sofinnova Partners, HBM Healthcare, RA Capital Management, Forbion, Pfizer and Avego BioScience Capital. He noted the continued support from the American Cancer Society’s (ACS) BrightEdge. “The patient representative groups also understand one of the advantages of being an oral drug is that we can be used in the community setting much more easily without being a healthcare burden,” West said of the ACS’ investment. The potential IPO could give the UK and US biotech access to a broader set of capital that could fuel a commercial launch, West said. He doesn’t have a stock ticker in mind yet, but his company is already working with an agency on the branding blueprint for inobrodib, the CEO said. By this point next year, CellCentric should have additional proof-of-concept data that could also further intrigue pharmaceutical companies that are already interested in the company, West said. But for now, it is looking to make progress by itself. “We have an experienced team now, so we don’t need to partner,” West said. “Whereas two, three years ago, I probably was a bit more focused on chasing deals. Whereas today, to see inobrodib continue to advance, we don’t need to.” CellCentric began in 2004 based on research out of the University of Cambridge, looking at epigenetics and cellular reprogramming with partners like Takeda . For a while, the startup was a “knowledge company,” West previously said , but eventually grew into a drug developer after exploring more than 50 potential cancer drug targets. The company landed on p300 and CBP. CellCentric’s capsule aims to displace the twin proteins and disrupt critical cancer drivers such as MYC and IRF4, according to the biotech’s website. CellCentric has taken inobrodib into more than 500 patients to date. The Series D comes as the multiple myeloma landscape has added more and more “cocktails” of treatment options over the years. “Small molecules have played a role in the early days, then monoclonal antibodies, obviously you had CAR-Ts come in and then more recently the in vivo CAR-Ts,” West said. “The therapies that have really changed the landscape very significantly are the bispecific antibodies.” CellCentric believes those bispecific approvals, such as Johnson & Johnson’s Tecvayli , have actually created more opportunities for its investigational medicine. “As they get used earlier, that then creates a bigger market, but it’s also then creating a patient population that is either not tolerating those type of therapies or eventually relapsing on them, and those patients don’t have anything new to then be given,” West said. Next year, CellCentric will ponder going beyond multiple myeloma, into other indications it’s explored over the years. That includes late-stage prostate cancer, acute myeloid leukemia, lymphoma and various solid tumors, West said. “We haven’t got any other drug discovery programs. I’m not doing drug discovery from scratch again,” West said. “It’s too hard.” With all bets now placed on inobrodib, CellCentric will find out in the coming year or two whether the hard work was worth it.

CellCentric announced Wednesday the closure of an oversubscribed $220 million series D financing to advance its oral p300/CBP inhibitor inobrodib through pivotal trials for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM).The latest round was led by Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, with participation from new investors Fidelity Management & Research Company, Sofinnova Partners and HBM Healthcare, alongside existing backers RA Capital Management, Forbion, Pfizer, Avego Bioscience Capital and American Cancer Society BrightEdge.CellCentric noted that the megaround's proceeds will fund continued enrolment in the recently commenced Phase II DOMMINO-1 study of inobrodib, as well as initiation of the global Phase III DOMMINO-2 trial in the second half of the year. Phase II dose-optimisation data presented at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting in December showed inobrodib in combination with standard doses of pomalidomide and dexamethasone delivered overall response rates (ORRs) of 60% to 75% in patients having previously received a median of five treatment lines — representing at least a two-fold increase over historical therapies."Fuelled by this funding, we are well positioned to complete registration enabling studies for the all-oral triplet and advance our progress toward delivering a transformative treatment… to address a critical need in multiple myeloma, notably after bispecific T-cell engager or anti-BCMA therapies," said Will West, CEO of CellCentric.The fresh capital will also support the expansion of inobrodib into additional combination settings, particularly with bispecifics such as Pfizer's Elrexfio (elranatamab) and Johnson and Johnson's Tecvayli (teclistamab), as well as in maintenance settings.CellCentric raised $120 million in a series C in May last year, adding to at least $119 million secured previously, including $35 million from RA Capital in 2024 and $25 million from Pfizer in 2023. Prior to that, Morningside Venture Investments had injected $26 million and $33 million in 2018 and 2020, respectively, into the biotech.