California-based MultiValent Biotherapies, Inc. has closed a USD 27.425 million first closing of its Series A finance round. The monies raised are earmarked to support the advance of MVB-101, a bivalent peptide-like targeted drug conjugate for prostate cancer, into clinical development in the US.
The investor composition was not disclosed in the announcement. As part of a concurrent licensing agreement with China-based Coherent Biopharma, Coherent received an equity stake in MultiValent along with a cash upfront payment, and is eligible for future development, regulatory, commercial, and sales milestone payments. Under the terms of the license, MultiValent received exclusive rights to MVB-101 (CBP-1018) in all markets outside of Greater China. Proceeds will be used to support a Phase Ib/IIa clinical trial of MVB-101, which MultiValent expects to initiate in Q3 2026.
MVB-101 targets two antigens highly expressed on prostate cancer cells — prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) and folate receptor alpha (FRα) — and delivers monomethyl auristatin E (MMAE) as its cytotoxic payload. The molecule is described as approximately 1/50th the size of a conventional antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), a design the company said is intended to facilitate faster tumor penetration and improve binding against heterogeneous tumor cells through simultaneous dual-target engagement. Coherent previously evaluated MVB-101 in more than 110 patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, generating preliminary safety and efficacy data that informed the licensing transaction.
This article was generated with AI assistance and reviewed and edited by the AllSci editorial team Explore more at AllSci News: https://allsci.com/news/
Spot something wrong? Report an issue with this article