Gadeta Closes EUR 7 Million Series A Financing to Advance Novel Cancer Immunotherapies to the Clinic

UTRECHT, The Netherlands--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Gadeta B.V., a Dutch start-up company focused on the discovery and development of novel cancer immunotherapies based on gamma delta (γδ) T cell receptors, announced today the completion of a EUR 7 million Series A financing round led by Baxalta Ventures and Medicxi Ventures. Founders, management and Utrecht Holdings also participated. Geeta Vemuri from Baxalta Ventures and Michèle Ollier and Giovanni Mariggi from Medicxi Ventures will join the supervisory board. The company was founded by Dr. Jürgen Kuball, Mark de Boer, Utrecht Holdings and Medicxi Ventures (which provided seed capital).

Gadeta's technology platform is based on the ground-breaking discoveries of Prof. Dr. Jürgen Kuball regarding the role of γδ T cell receptors in the broad recognition of the metabolic differences in hematological and solid tumor cells, and their potential use for the treatment of advanced malignancies. Dr. Kuball, co-founder and chief scientific officer of Gadeta, chairs the section of applied & tumor-immunology within the laboratory of translational immunology at the University Medical Center Utrecht (UMC Utrecht), as well as the Department of Hematology (adults), and is the Director of the Bone Marrow Transplantation Program at the UMC Utrecht.

Mark de Boer, co-founder and acting CEO of Gadeta, said: "Supported by the Series A financing, we're excited to accelerate our programs and rapidly advance them to the clinic. With its unique ability to target the metabolic changes in tumor cells, the strong therapeutic potential of our platform holds tremendous promise for the treatment of hematological and solid tumors."

Gadeta expects to start a Phase I/IIa clinical trial of its lead program in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in early 2017. In parallel, the company intends to optimize a closed manufacturing system to allow for the start of a second clinical trial in solid tumors later in 2017

About Gadeta

Founded in 2015, Gadeta has developed a technology platform based on combinatorial T Cell receptor exchange (CTE) to create optimized gamma delta (γδ) T-cell receptors (TCRs) with an enhanced anti-cancer reactivity. Gadeta's new cell-based anti-cancer product called T Cells Engineered To Express A Defined Gamma Delta TCR (TEGs) has strong therapeutic potential for combating and eradicating both hematological and solid tumors. This approach utilizes high-affinity γδ TCRs expressed on αβ T cells with superior proliferation capacity. For more information: www.gadeta.nl.

About Medicxi Ventures

Medicxi Ventures is a life sciences focused venture capital firm recently spun out of Index Ventures. One of Europe's largest dedicated life sciences VC firms, Medicxi Ventures has offices in London, Jersey and Geneva. Past and existing portfolio companies include for example GenMab GEN, PanGenetics (acquired by Abbott), Minerva Neurosciences NERV, Egalet EGLT, Molecular Partners MOLN, Versartis VSAR, Levicept, XO1 (acquired by J&J). Morphogen-IX, and Gadeta. For more information, please visit us at MedicxiVentures.com and connect with us on Twitter and Linkedin.

About Baxalta Ventures

Baxalta Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of Baxalta Incorporated BXLT with over $200 million under management, and is a core facet of Baxalta's R&D strategy. Baxalta is a global biopharmaceutical leader developing, manufacturing and commercializing therapies for orphan diseases and underserved conditions in hematology, immunology and oncology. Driven by passion to make a meaningful impact on patients' lives, Baxalta's broad and diverse pipeline includes biologics with novel mechanisms and advanced technology platforms such as gene therapy. For more information: http://www.baxalta.com/ventures

About Utrecht Holdings

Utrecht Holdings (UH) is the Knowledge Transfer Office of and is active as an investor for Utrecht University and University Medical Center Utrecht (UMC Utrecht). UH is focused on the utilization and commercialization of academic research. UH supports scientists in creating, building and investing in innovations with a particular expertise in biotech, medtech, education and ICT. Since 1996, UH has assisted Utrecht University and the UMC Utrecht in attracting significant amounts of research money, filed over 150 patents, closed many license agreements, and established over 40 spin-off companies. www.utrechtholdings.nl

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160329005110/en/