Led · Equity · Dec 2020

AbilityPharma is a Barcelona-based biopharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative oral autophagy-inducing anticancer compounds. Its lead candidate, ABTL0812, is in a Phase 2b trial in metastatic pancreatic cancer, with all 140 patients recruited. The trial is a double-blind, placebo-controlled, first-line study combining ABTL0812 with FOLFIRINOX and is ongoing at 23 hospitals across Spain, the USA, France and Israel. Efficacy results from the study are expected by year-end. The company is led by CEO Carles Domènech. AbilityPharma raised €7M to finance the Phase 2b clinical study of ABTL0812. AbilityPharma develops oral anticancer agents that induce selective autophagy-mediated cytotoxicity in cancer cells, with ABTL0812 as its lead asset. ABTL0812 has shown positive results in phase 2 trials as a first-line therapy in endometrial and squamous non-small-cell lung cancer in Europe. The company plans a multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 2b study in pancreatic cancer testing ABTL0812 in combination with FOLFIRINOX across sites in Spain, France, the United States and Israel. AbilityPharma aims to complete that trial in 2022 and pursue a licensing agreement with a multinational pharma to bring ABTL0812 to patients by 2024. Financially, the company raised €6.1M in the second half of 2020 to fund its pancreatic cancer program and has received support from public and private sources including EIC Accelerator and an FDA grant. Ability Pharma develops novel first-in-class cancer medicines that act on autophagy to induce cancer cell death; its lead candidate is ABTL0812 for pancreatic cancer. The company secured $1.9M from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration to fund a Phase IIb clinical trial of ABTL0812. That FDA funding will be complemented by €5M in European Union grants, private investors and a crowdfunding round on Capital Cell to total €9.2M for the program. Since its founding in 2009 by Carles Domènech, Ability has previously raised €13.8M (excluding this round) with backers including Inveready, Fitalent (Everis) and Sodena. Ability also has a licensing agreement with SciClone for China. The company is based in the Parc Tecnològic del Vallès and the Parc de Recerca de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in Catalonia. Ability Pharma develops novel first-in-class drug candidates that target autophagy to induce cancer‑cell death, with lead compound ABTL0812. The company is advancing ABTL0812 into a phase II clinical trial in pancreatic cancer in combination with another drug, and has ongoing trials in endometrial and lung cancer. It has secured public R&D funding through the European Commission/Horizon Europe (including a €2.5M Accelerator award) and additional investment arranged via the EIB process. The article states €5M from EC-related projects will be used to start the phase II study, which will include centers in Spain, France, Israel and other European sites. Current venture shareholders include Inveready, Everis and Sodena. Ability Pharma was founded in 2009 by president Carles Domènech and is located at Parc Tecnològic del Vallès and the Parc de Recerca de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Catalonia). AbilityPharma is a Catalan biopharmaceutical firm focused on developing ABTL0812, an oral first-in-class antitumor compound that induces cancer cell death by autophagy. ABTL0812 is in phase 2 clinical trials in Europe for endometrial cancer and squamous non-small-cell lung cancer, with interim endometrial data showing response increases of up to 50% among evaluable patients. The company intends to use new financing to complete the ongoing phase 2 studies in Spain and France and to secure a licensing agreement with a pharmaceutical partner for further development and commercialization. ABTL0812 completed a phase 1/1b study (29 patients) showing strong safety and signs of efficacy, and holds Orphan Drug Designations for pancreatic cancer, biliary cancer and pediatric neuroblastoma from FDA and EMA. AbilityPharma previously signed a territorial license for China with SciClone in April 2016 and is based in Cerdanyola del Vallès (Barcelona) at the Parc Tecnològic del Vallès and Parc de Recerca UAB. After the financing the company strengthened its executive team by appointing Maribel Berges as CEO and moving cofounder Carles Domènech to Executive Chairman and CSO; two new board members will join representing investors.