Antwerp (BE) — Brussels-based Camel-IDS, which is deve­lo­ping novel radio­im­mu­no­the­rapy drugs to treat cancer, has closed a €37 million Series A finan­cing round — making it one of the larger rounds among early-stage life scien­ces compa­nies in Europe. Euro­pean private equity firm Gimv is the lead inves­tor toge­ther with V‑Bio Ventures, contri­bu­ting six million euros. Other inves­tors include Health­Cap, Novo Seeds, Ponti­fax and BioMed­Part­ners. With the new capi­tal, Camel-IDS plans to conduct a Phase Ib/II clini­cal trial for its lead deve­lo­p­ment candi­date in breast cancer with brain meta­sta­ses, as well as further expand its pre-clini­­cal pipeline.

Camel-IDS (www.camel-ids.com) was foun­ded in 2014 as a spin-off of the Vrije Univer­si­teit Brussel (VUB). The company deve­lops novel radio­phar­maceu­ti­cals based on single domain anti­bo­dies linked to radi­o­nu­cli­des. Pati­ents with breast cancer whose tumors have an eleva­ted presence of the growth-promo­­ting HER2 onco­pro­tein can now be trea­ted effec­tively and speci­fi­cally, but their progno­sis is extre­mely poor if the cancer spreads to the brain. The most advan­ced deve­lo­p­ment candi­date of Camel-IDS starts there: It is inten­ded to irra­diate corre­spon­ding brain lesi­ons effec­tively and without harming healthy tissue. This is based on a unique tech­no­logy plat­form that takes advan­tage of the favorable tissue distri­bu­tion of single domain anti­bo­dies asso­cia­ted with radi­o­nu­cli­des, as found in camelids.

Karl Nägler (photo), Part­ner of Gimv’s Health & Care plat­form., explains: “In our discus­sions, the great compe­tence of the Camel-IDS team in the field of radio-immu­­no­­the­rapy and the excep­tio­nal exper­tise of Profes­sor Tony Lahoutte became appa­rent early on. With CEO Ruth Deve­nyns, the company also has an accom­plished connois­seur of the Euro­pean biotech market and a successful entre­pre­neur. These are the best prere­qui­si­tes for the next stage of development.”

Gimv’s commit­ment is the company’s fourth invest­ment this year in the life scien­ces, medi­cal tech­no­logy and health­care sectors and unders­cores Gimv’s role as one of the most active inves­tors in the Euro­pean health­care indus­try. This brings the number of port­fo­lio compa­nies in Gimv’s Health & Care plat­form to 21.

About Gimv
Gimv is a Euro­pean invest­ment firm with nearly 40 years of expe­ri­ence in private equity and venture capi­tal. The company is listed on Euron­ext Brussels, curr­ently mana­ges around EUR 1.6 billion and curr­ently invests in around 50 port­fo­lio compa­nies, which toge­ther gene­rate reve­nues of more than EUR 2.5 billion and employ more than 14,000 people.

Gimv iden­ti­fies inno­va­tive, leading compa­nies with high growth poten­tial and supports them on their way to market leader­ship. Each of the four invest­ment plat­forms Connec­ted Consu­mer, Health & Care, Smart Indus­tries and Sustainable Cities is mana­ged by a dedi­ca­ted and compe­tent team, each based in Gimv’s home markets — Bene­lux, France and DACH — and supported by an exten­sive inter­na­tio­nal network of experts.
For more infor­ma­tion about Gimv, visit www.gimv.com.