Andera Partners
Andera Partners supports TargED Biopharmaceuticals in €39 million Series A financing to bring groundbreaking thrombolytic treatment to patients

PRESS RELEASE

Andera Partners supports TargED Biopharmaceuticals in €39 million Series A financing
to bring groundbreaking thrombolytic treatment to patients

• Financing by an international investor syndicate with equal contributions from Andera Partners, Fund+, Hadean Ventures, Inkef Capital and Sunstone Life Science Ventures
• Funds will accelerate development of first-in-class targeted thrombolytic treatment into clinical development

Paris, 22^nd February 2022 – TargED Biopharmaceuticals (“TargED”), a private biotechnology company focused on developing improved treatments for thrombotic diseases, today announces it has raised Series A financing of EUR 39 million to accelerate development of its lead compound, Microlyse. The financing was led by an international syndicate with equal contributions from Andera Partners, Fund+, Hadean Ventures, Inkef Capital and Sunstone Life Science Ventures, and joined by existing investors FIRST (Managed by BioGeneration Ventures), Curie Capital and Utrecht Health Seed Fund. TargED will focus development on two initial indications: acquired Thrombotic Thrombocytopenia Purpura (aTTP) and Acute Ischemic Stroke (AIS).

TargED’s lead product, Microlyse, is a first-in-class proprietary clot-busting compound which binds to a protein present in all forms of thrombosis. Microlyse is the first compound to achieve targeted enzyme delivery, using a single domain antibody (VhH), directly to blood clots. Due to the targeted nature of the therapy, it is expected to lead to a superior side effect profile alongside the potential for exceptional potency compared to current agents. Microlyse’s unique mechanism of action allows for potential applications in a variety of indications involving thrombosis, including the life-threatening disease aTTP. The groundbreaking work demonstrating that Microlyse specifically targets blood clots leading to their dissolution faster and safer compared to standard of care recently featured on the cover of the journal Blood (Microlyse: a thrombolytic agent that targets VWF for clearance of microvascular thrombosis).

Kristof Vercruysse, Chief Executive Officer of TargED, said: “We are delighted to have the support of this international syndicate of world class life science investors, a validation of the potential of Microlyse. We are proud to be developing products that have the potential to positively impact millions of lives by enabling patient access to such lifesaving treatment.”

Following the closing of the financing the Board of TargED will include: Thijs Cohen Tervaert, Inkef Capital (Chair), Olivier Litzka, Andera Partners, Mariette van der Velden-Roesink, Curie Capital, Jan Van den Bossche, Fund+, Roger Franklin, Hadean Ventures and Jacob Lange Moresco, Sunstone Life Science Ventures.

Olivier Litzka, Partner at Andera Partners commented: “Together with Jacob, Roger, Jan et Thijs, we are very pleased to invest in this impressive TargED team. Microlyse is a therapeutic innovation that has a very strong potential to significantly lower the burden of disease related to thrombotic events. We are excited to join forces with TargED to accelerate the development of Microlyse into clinical development, both in aTTP and AIS.”

“We are happy that our pioneering efforts on the design of an enzyme that targets blood clots led to compelling preclinical data recently published in the journal Blood” said UMC Utrecht Associate Professor Coen Maas and scientific co-founder of TargED. “It is exciting to see that this work has been able to attract such a strong syndicate of investors, which will now allow us to develop Microlyse towards therapeutic breakthrough, potentially across a range of indications with high unmet medical need”.

About Andera Partners

Created over 20 years ago, Andera Partners is a major player in private company investments in France and internationally. Its teams manage over €3.2 billion in investments in life sciences (Andera Life Sciences), growth and buyout capital (Andera MidCap, Andera Expansion and Andera Croissance), sponsorless transactions (Andera Acto) and ecological transition (Andera Infra).

Andera Partners’ mission is to work alongside companies and their managers to support them in achieving strong and sustainable growth. The quality of performance offered to our investors relies on a strong partnership between the entrepreneurs in our portfolio companies and our teams, based on shared values. Performance through collective engagement, the “Power of And”, constitutes Andera Partners’ DNA.

Based in Paris, with offices in Antwerp and Munich, Andera Partners is wholly owned by its teams, which count nearly 85 professionals, of which 54 investment professionals. It is structured as a partnership and managed by a board of 10 partners. Responsible and committed, the management company regularly forms partnerships with non-profit sector entities and takes concrete action in the fight against global warming. Andera Partners has been certified carbon neutral since 2018.

About TargED

TargED Biopharmaceuticals B.V. is a biotechnology company that develops first-in-class biological drugs to improve treatment of thrombosis. TargED stands for Targeted Enzyme Delivery. Their biological drugs are unique by using small antibodies (“VHH”) to deliver enzymes to sites of thrombosis, enabling ‘targeted’ thrombolysis. The lead compound is Microlyse, which is currently under development for thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) and Acute Ischemic Stroke (AIS). The objective is to accelerate thrombolysis in all forms of thrombosis, irrespective of the thrombus composition.

TargED, a spin-off of the University Medical Center Utrecht, was founded in July 2020 by Associate Professor at the Department of Clinical Chemistry and Haematology, Coen Maas, PhD, an expert in thrombosis and hemostasis, Steven de Maat, PhD, an expert in recombinant protein development and optimization, Marc van Moorsel, researcher with focus on Acute Ischemic Stroke and Kristof Vercruysse, with more than 20 years of experience in bringing biopharmaceutical compounds from pre-clinical proof of concept to market, most notably, Caplacizumab for Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura at Ablynx between 2007 and 2013.

For more information, please visit www.targedbiopharmaceuticals.com or our LinkedIn page.

Press Contact

Nicolas DELSERT – Andera Partners – n.delsert@anderapartners.com – +33 6 70 91 25 23

Marie-Charlotte POTET – Bien Commun Advisory – mc.potet@bcadvisory.fr – +33 6 76 14 02 02

Raimund GABRIEL – MC Services AG – andera@mc-services.eu – +49 89 210 228 0