Technology
Agomab CEO Tim Knotnerus. — © id/Katrijn Van Giel
With a large capital injection, investors confirm the great future opportunities for the Ghent biotech promise Agomab Therapeutics.
The Ghent biotech company Agomab Therapeutics has taken an important step in its growth trajectory. A group of mainly American venture capital providers is investing 100 million dollars (94 million euros) in the company. According to The time This is the largest private investment round ever in the Belgian biotech sector. The money is used to finance clinical tests. The company wants to find out whether it will be possible to develop an effective drug against certain conditions related to Crohn’s disease. That is a chronic inflammation of the intestine. Agomab is also investigating whether the drug can be used for other conditions.
Agomab was founded in 2017. It emerged from a collaboration between the Ghent biotech company ArgenX and Paolo Michieli, a scientist at the University of Turin. Together they managed to develop specific antibodies. Four years later, the Ghent company took over its competitor Origo Biopharma from Barcelona, which was active in a similar research field. In recent years, the company has already raised $140 million in three phases. That money came from pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, among others.
Michieli is the scientific director of Agomab. CEO is Dutchman Tim Knotnerus, who has experience in the venture capital sector. Spaniard Ramon Bosser, from Origo Biopharma, leads the research activities. “With these investments we can further expand our company and finance research into several drug candidates,” Knotnerus said in a press release.