Watch: Araris Biotech at Bio-Europe

Araris Biotech AG is a Swiss-headquartered company pioneering the development of its novel antibody-drug-conjugate (ADC)-linker technology to enable efficient and precise production of ADCs. 

Its linker platform enables the attachment of any drug payload to ‘off the shelf’ antibodies, without the need for prior antibody engineering. 

The resulting ADCs have shown very high activity at low doses and an improved therapeutic index compared to multiple FDA-approved ADCs. Araris Biotech is a spin-off company from the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) and ETH Zurich.

In October, the company closed a $24 million financing round, bringing the total funds raised to $40 million to date.

The round was co-led by 4BIO Capital and Pureos Bioventures, with participation from new investors, including Wille AG and the Institute for Follicular Lymphoma Innovation. The round also included participation from existing investors VI Partners, Schroders Capital, btov Partners and Redalpine. Damir Illich, Ph.D. from Wille AG and Sophie Allauzen, Ph.D. from the Institute for Follicular Lymphoma Innovation will also be joining the Araris team as board observers.

Proceeds from the financing will be used to support the further development and advancement of Araris’ antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) candidates, created using the Company’s proprietary linker technology, as Araris moves closer towards clinical development.

At Bio-Europe, we chatted with Philipp Spycher, chief executive officer of Araris Biotech.