Biovance Capital leads Series A investment in Mondego Bio together with OrbiMed and Torrey Pines

· Mondego Bio is a new Portuguese startup developing breakthrough cancer treatments.

· Mondego Bio was founded by these three investors and represents Biovance Capital Fund I’s inaugural investment.

Biovance Capital, a biotech venture capital firm based in Portugal, alongside co-investors OrbiMed, a leading healthcare investment firm with over $17 billion in assets under management, and Torrey Pines Investment, a specialty life-science investment company based in San Diego, USA, announced today the Series A funding of Mondego Bio. Headquartered in Portugal’s main biotech park, Biocant, Mondego Bio is developing best-in-class protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 2 (PTPN2) inhibitors, providing a potential new immuno-oncological therapy with an improved safety and tolerability profile.

As a critical negative regulator of the JAK-STAT pathway, PTPN2 functions to directly regulate signaling through cytokine receptors, including IFNγ receptor. Thus, enhancing IFNγ sensing and signaling through the inhibition of PTPN2 is a potential new therapeutic strategy to improve the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy regimens.

“This marks the first investment by Biovance Capital Fund I, which looks to provide crucial capital to develop transformational therapies for unmet medical needs, and attract world-class scientists and investors to Portugal”, said Ricardo Perdigão Henriques, PhD, Managing Partner of Biovance Capital, the investment firm leading the round. “We are excited to join forces with top-tier US healthcare investors to help accelerate safer, more effective treatments—and, ultimately, better outcomes for patients battling cancer,” added João Incio, MD PhD, General Partner of Biovance Capital. “We see this investment as an excellent opportunity to advance a groundbreaking innovation with the potential to reshape current immunotherapy in oncology”, said André Albergaria, PhD, Principal at Biovance Capital.

“With very compelling science, we are excited to back Mondego Bio’s work on PTPN2 inhibitors in immuno-oncology, marking our first investment in Southern Europe and a successful collaboration with OrbiMed and Biovance Capital” said Nikolay Savchuk, PhD, Managing Partner of Torrey Pines Investment.

“It is great to have Biovance Capital as a local partner in Portugal supporting the development of this company” added Iain Dukes, PhD, Venture Partner at OrbiMed.

The lead programs are based on research initially developed at Eilean Therapeutics, an AI/ML supported company co-founded by OrbiMed and Torrey Pines

About Biovance Capital

Biovance Capital is Portugal’s leading life sciences venture capital firm. The company manages Biovance Capital Fund I, a new venture capital fund with a total of € 57 million backed by the European Investment Fund, the largest Portuguese pharmaceutical company BIAL, the national promotional bank Banco Português de Fomento, the European Commission through the Portugal Tech and InvestEU programmes, and private investors such as BIAL, Caixa Capital, Ageas Pensões, Fundo de Pensões EDP, in addition to other private investors from the USA and Europe. The fund invests in early-stage drug development companies across Europe, with a special focus on Southern Europe.

About Mondego Bio

Mondego Bio is a Portuguese biotech company developing best-in-class protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 2 (PTPN2) inhibitors, providing a potential new immuno-oncological therapy with an improved safety and tolerability profile. Mondego Bio is backed by Biovance Capital, OrbiMed and Torrey Pines Investment, and is headquartered in Portugal’s main biotech park, Biocant. For more information, please visit www.mondegobio.com.