immatics Closes €34 Million Financing to Complete Phase 3 Development of IMA901 for Renal Cancer

TUEBINGEN, Germany, October 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

• immatics' lead cancer vaccine IMA901 to report interim phase 3 data in 2014 and final data in 2015
• Funding secured within existing investor group

immatics biotechnologies GmbH, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing advanced multi-peptide cancer vaccines that are active against cancer, today announced that it has closed a €34 million Series D financing round.

The funding round was supported by existing investors including dievini Hopp Biotech holding, Wellington Partners, MIG-advised funds and AT Impf GmbH. Under the terms of the fundraising, immatics will receive the first €12 million tranche of funding immediately.

The new funds will enable immatics to conclude the development of its lead vaccine IMA901, including completing all of the activities necessary to prepare for regulatory filings in the US and Europe. IMA901 - a cancer vaccine comprising 10 different tumor-associated peptides (TUMAPs) that are found to be highly over-expressed in the majority of patients suffering from renal cell carcinoma (RCC) - is in a pivotal phase 3 trial. It has orphan drug designation in the US and Europe for the treatment of RCC in HLA-A*02 positive patients.

The phase 3 trial is designed to evaluate overall survival with IMA901 in combination with sunitinib (Sutent®, Pfizer), the current standard first-line therapy, compared with sunitinib alone in patients with metastatic and/or locally advanced RCC. The trial has completed inclusion of 339 patients at sites in the US and Europe. Interim overall survival results are expected in 2014, with final data in 2015.      

The phase 3 trial builds on the positive phase 2 study with IMA901 in advanced RCC patients. The trial showed that patients who produced an immune response to two or more of the TUMAPs contained in IMA901 had a significantly longer survival, as published in Nature Medicine in 2012.^[1]

Paul Higham, CEO of immatics, said: "We are pleased that our existing investors have demonstrated their continued confidence in immatics and the novel cancer vaccines that we are able to generate using our unique, rational TUMAP-based approach to cancer immunotherapy. This financing will allow us to complete the full phase 3 development of IMA901 and prepare regulatory submission packages for the US and Europe. There is a clear need for novel cancer therapies that can deliver prolonged survival while maintaining a good quality of life. We remain hopeful that IMA901 will deliver a significant improvement for patients with renal cell cancer."

Peter Chambré, Chairman of immatics' Board, said: "The IMA901 results to date have demonstrated that immatics' vaccines have the potential to significantly extend the life of renal cancer patients. I am delighted that our current investors have committed to backing what we believe is a very promising cancer vaccine portfolio and cancer immunotherapy approach and look forward to the IMA901 phase 3 results in the near future."

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1. Walter S, Weinschenk T et al. 2012. Multipeptide immune response to cancer vaccine IMA901 after single-dose cyclophosphamide associates with longer patient survival. Nature Medicine, published online: 29 July 2012.

About IMA901

IMA901 is a rationally designed cancer vaccine comprising 10 different tumor-associated peptides (TUMAPs) that are found to be highly over-expressed in the majority of patients suffering from renal cell carcinoma (RCC). IMA901 is a peptide-based vaccine with a stable, off-the-shelf formulation and robust and easily scalable manufacturing.

About immatics

immatics biotechnologies is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing advanced therapeutic vaccines that are active against cancer. immatics' lead product, IMA901, is in a pivotal phase 3 study after completing a successful randomized phase 2 trial in renal cell carcinoma. immatics' pipeline also includes IMA910, which has reported improved overall survival data in patients with advanced colorectal cancer (phase 1/2 study completed), and IMA950, which is in phase 1 in patients with glioma.

immatics' unique and world-leading technology platform XPRESIDENT®discovers novel relevant cancer antigens known to be expressed on tumor cells. These tumor-associated peptides (TUMAPs) constitute the basis for developing therapeutic cancer vaccines and other immunotherapies, including peptide-targeting compounds such as antibodies and soluble T-cell receptors. In contrast to widely used existing in silico and indirect methods to identify peptide antigens, immatics' TUMAPs are confirmed to be naturally expressed in primary cancer tissue.

immatics' vaccines contain multiple TUMAPs to maximize the chances of clinical success by increasing the number of targets on cancer cells that they address. Phase 2 results with IMA901 and IMA910 have shown improved survival in patients who respond to multiple TUMAPs in both of these vaccines. immatics' multi-peptide vaccines are 'drug like', i.e. fully synthetic, off-the-shelf, easily scalable and stable.

immatics is based in Tuebingen and Martinsried (Munich), Germany and employs 70 people (FTEs).

For additional information on immatics please visit http://www.immatics.com or contact:

Paul Higham, CEO
Dr. Nikola Wiegeler, Assistant to the Management
immatics biotechnologies GmbH
Phone: +49-7071-5397-110
E-mail: [email protected] 

Citigate Dewe Rogerson
David Dible / Chris Gardner / Sita Shah
Phone: +44(0)207-638-9571
E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE immatics