Company Formed by Alamar Biosciences and Frazier Life Sciences
Attobody™ Platform Generates Small Format Binders for Hard-to-drug Targets
FREMONT, Calif. and MENLO PARK, Calif., June 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alamar Biosciences, a company powering precision proteomics to enable the earliest detection of diseases, and Frazier Life Sciences, announced the launch of Attovia Therapeutics, a newly formed company focused on creating a pipeline of biotherapeutics in immune-mediated disease and cancer. The company, based on Attobody™, Alamar’s novel proprietary biparatopic nanobody platform, concurrently closed a $60 million Series A financing led by Frazier and joined by venBio and Illumina Ventures.
Attovia will receive an exclusive world-wide license to the Attobody platform and associated intellectual property and pipeline assets in the therapeutic field in exchange for equity and potential milestones and royalties. The company plans to use the proceeds from the Series A financing to achieve clinical proof-of-concept on its lead program in immune-mediated disease, nominate additional development candidates across the company’s core areas of focus in immunology and oncology, as well as continue to advance the core Attobody technology platform.
“By creating Attovia with Frazier and other investors, we can give the Attobody platform the dedicated attention and resources it deserves to fully realize its potential,” said Yuling Luo, Ph.D., founder, chairman and CEO of Alamar and co-founder of Attovia. “Alamar scientists developed the Attobody platform to improve the affinity and specificity of antibodies and we are very excited to expand its applications to therapeutic development.”
Tao Fu, M.S., M.B.A., co-founder of Attovia and Venture Partner at Frazier Life Sciences, will serve as Attovia’s chief executive officer and join the Board. Mr. Fu is a seasoned industry leader with over 25 years of executive experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, including leadership roles at Zai Lab, Portola Pharmaceuticals, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Johnson & Johnson. Attovia’s leadership team is fully rounded out by Petter Veiby, Ph.D., chief scientific officer; Hangjun Zhan, Ph.D., chief technology officer; and Zaneta Odrowaz, Ph.D., chief business officer.
“The ability to combine two nanobodies into a single biparatopic Attobody creates opportunities to fine-tune therapies for specific targets and to expand the target universe,” said Mr. Fu. “I am excited to be partnering with a proven executive team, leading investors and an experienced board to develop medicines for some of the most prevalent disorders that still do not have ideal therapeutic solutions.”
Jamie Topper, M.D. Ph.D., managing partner at Frazier Life Sciences and Aaron Royston, M.D., M.B.A., managing partner at venBio, will join the Attovia’s Board of Directors.
“Company creation is one of Frazier’s core strategies, and we are thrilled to partner with Alamar and other investors to launch Attovia,” said Dr. Topper. “We believe Attovia is in a strong position to create a robust pipeline of first- and best-in-class drugs derived from the Attobody platform.”
“Small format nanobodies have demonstrated recent success in delivering best-in-class efficacy in select immune-mediated disease as evidenced by Acelyrin, one of our early investments,” said Dr. Royston. “We are thrilled to join the Attovia investor syndicate and to further advance the increasingly promising nanobody field.”
About the Attobody Platform
The Attobody platform generates small format binders (referred to as “Attobodies”) with ultra-high affinity, enhanced internalization and fast tissue penetration. These properties make Attobodies ideal binders for hard-to-drug targets such as G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), and enable broad applicability across a number of modalities such as antibody-drug conjugate, radioconjugate or multi-specific biologics development. The biparatopic binding mode of Attobodies, combined with the high-throughput, evolution-driven method of discovering binders, significantly expands druggable epitope and target space. Attobodies do not require affinity maturation and can be engineered into a variety of valencies and half-life extension formats. Thus far, Alamar and Attovia have successfully generated Attobodies against a host of membrane, soluble and viral targets.
About Attovia
Attovia is focused on creating a pipeline of biotherapeutics in immune-mediated disease and oncology. The company leverages Attobody™, Alamar Biosciences’ novel biparatopic nanobody platform, to generate small format binders with low picomolar affinity, enhanced specificity, accelerated internalization and fast tissue penetration. Attovia’s lead program is an Attobody to treat immune disease. The company is currently progressing multiple programs and plans to initiate additional discovery projects.
About Alamar Biosciences, Inc.
Alamar Biosciences is a privately held life sciences company with a mission to power precision proteomics to enable the earliest detection of disease. The company’s two proprietary technology platforms, NULISA™ and Attobody™, along with the ARGO™ System, work seamlessly with the latest advances in genomics to achieve single digit attomolar detection sensitivity, greatly surpassing the most sensitive protein detection technology on the market today. For more information, please visit www.alamarbio.com.
About Frazier Life Sciences
Frazier Life Sciences invests globally in private and publicly-traded companies that discover, develop, and commercialize innovative biopharmaceuticals. Frazier Life Sciences funds comprise over $3.3 billion in capital raised, including venture funds focusing on company creation and private companies, and a public fund focused on small and mid-cap public companies. Since 2005, 62 Frazier Life Sciences portfolio companies, many of which were created or seeded by Frazier, have completed IPOs or M&As. The Frazier Life Sciences team consists of over 40 professionals with deep expertise in biopharmaceuticals, primarily located in Menlo Park, California (headquarters), San Diego, Seattle, Boston, New York and London.
For more information about Frazier Life Sciences, please visit www.frazierls.com.
Press Contacts
Attovia Therapeutics:
Zaneta Odrowaz, Ph.D.
zodrowaz@attovia.com
Sheryl Seapy
Real Chemistry
+1-949-903-4750
sseapy@realchemistry.com
Alamar Biosciences:
April Falcone
afalcone@alamarbio.com
