1 April 2020 - - US-based gene therapy companies operator ElevateBio, LLC has closed a USD 170m series B financing that will support and accelerate the company's next phase of growth, the company said.

New investors, The Invus Group, Surveyor Capital (A Citadel company), EDBI, and Vertex Ventures, join existing investors, F2 Ventures, MPM Capital, EcoR1 Capital, Redmile Group, and Samsara BioCapital, all of whom also participated in this financing.

Additionally, the company announced Germano Giuliani will join its board of directors.

The series B proceeds will enable ElevateBio BaseCamp to be fully operational with cGMP manufacturing; The advancement of clinical development with at least six cell and gene therapies from across its portfolio companies to enter clinical studies this year and into 2021; Key milestones and continued development of ElevateBio's enabling technology platforms.

Along with the series B financing, ElevateBio also announced that Germano Giuliani will join ElevateBio's board of directors. Giuliani is an industry expert who is a member of the board of directors at HBM Healthcare Investments AG, a role he has had since 2012.

Giuliani is also a member of the Investment Committee at Royalty Pharma.

Additionally, Giuliani previously served as the chief financial officer, chairman and chief executive officer of Giuliani SpA a 131-year-old Italian pharmaceutical company that continues to develop, manufacture, and distribute health and beauty products.

He currently serves, or has served, on several boards where he provided his extensive expertise and oversight across all aspects of the businesses. Giuliani has a degree in economics and commerce from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, Italy.

ElevateBio is completing the buildout of its R and D, process development, and manufacturing operation, ElevateBio BaseCamp, a centralized 140,000 square foot cell and gene therapy innovation hub located in Waltham, Mass.

ElevateBio launched AlloVir, a late-clinical stage T-cell immunotherapy company, with technology stemming from the Baylor College of Medicine's Center for Cell and Gene Therapy in May 2019 with a USD 120m series B financing led by Fidelity Research and Management company.

In 2019, AlloVir received Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy designation from the US Food and Drug Administration.

This year, the European Medicines Agency granted AlloVir two designations for Viralym-M (ALVR105), the company's lead allogeneic, off-the-shelf, multi-virus specific T-cell therapy, targeting six commonly occurring, devastating viruses in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation recipients: PRIority MEdicines (PRIME) designation for the treatment of serious infections with BK virus, cytomegalovirus, human herpes virus-6, Epstein Barr virus, and/or adenovirus in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation recipients; and Orphan Drug Designation as a potential treatment of viral diseases and infections in patients undergoing HSCT.

AlloVir plans to initiate pivotal studies of Viralym-M in stem cell transplant and proof-of-concept studies in solid organ transplant patients and the company will also advance its second product candidate, ALVR106, into a proof-of-concept study for four devastating community acquired respiratory viruses in 2020.

AlloVir also announced an expanded research agreement with Baylor College of Medicine to discover and develop a coronavirus-specific T-cell therapy for immunocompromised patients at risk for COVID-19.

In October 2019, HighPassBio was launched with technology from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute.

HighPassBio is dedicated to advancing novel, T-cell receptor therapies targeting HA1-expressing tumors which are designed to treat, and potentially prevent, relapse of leukemia following hematopoietic stem cell transplant.

A Phase 1 clinical trial is open and recruiting for adult and pediatric patients who have relapsed with leukemia or related conditions following stem cell transplantation.

In July 2019, ElevateBio announced a 10-year agreement with Massachusetts General Hospital to manufacture innovative cell and gene therapies at ElevateBio BaseCamp as well as to create cell and gene therapy-focused companies together over time.

Throughout 2019, ElevateBio commenced operations of additional cell and gene therapy companies, including highly innovative AAV-based gene therapies, TCR, and CAR T cells, which will be publicly disclosed later in 2020.