AUM Biosciences announces closing of $27 million in a “Series A” round of funding

AUM Biosciences (AUM) today announced the completion of $27 million series A funding round. This will fuel AUM’s vision of developing a world-class biotech pipeline focussed on drugging what many consider as the undruggable targets, as well as addressing the need to delay and overcome resistance to targetted drugs in oncology. The funding will also accelerate pipeline expansion and business growth. This round was led by Singapore-based Everlife and SPRIM Global investments (SGI), the company notified via a statement.

It said that through its robust strategic collaborations with leading academic institutions, pharmaceutical and biotech companies globally, AUM is now leading an ecosystem of multi-modality line up of small molecule-targeted therapies, including in-house research programmes. AUM plans to use the proceeds to advance the clinical development of its portfolio with the immediate initiation of two phase-II programmes for MNK and TRK inhibitors.

Talking about the impetus, Vishal Doshi, CEO and co-founder, AUM Biosciences, said, “We are excited about the next phase of growth and value creation. Our blue-chip founders and leaders are proud to have the confidence of and support from Everlife and SPRIM Global Investments. These proven investors share our enthusiasm for developing new therapies for patients who have high unmet needs.”

Adding to it, Harish Dave, CMO and co-founder, AUM Biosciences, who is gearing up to lead the next phase of this growth journey, expressed, “We are thrilled to see our vision taking root, and the strong support from Everlife and SPRIM Global Investments will certainly accelerate our innovation plans, globally. The synergy in our vision to support the cancer patients with better-targetted therapies, has laid the foundation of this association and investment.”

Earlier this year, AUM had entered into a strategic collaboration agreement with Handok Inc and CMG Pharmaceutical. Additionally, AUM Biosciences and Newsoara Biopharma also announced a five-year transformational strategic partnership in 2020 to co-develop and co-discover next-generation cancer therapeutics (enterprise value of up to $135 million), added the statement.

Dr Arjun Oberoi, Executive Chairman, Everlife, said, “We are impressed by AUM’s leadership team and believe that AUM’s unique portfolio holds great promise to address multiple unmet needs in the field of oncology. Everlife has a strong inclination in expanding its presence in the cancer diagnostic arena. This collaboration will help position us more strongly in the overall oncology ecosystem and grants us immediate access to AUM’s network of research laboratories and those of its partners in Southeast Asia.”