Grey Wolf Therapeutics raised another $50 million, which is set to extend its runway through 2026 and fund another clinical trial, this time in autoimmune diseases.
The additional financing arrives as many large drugmakers and investors are spreading their wings in the inflammation and immunology field, where there has been a string of recent high-profile M&A deals and megarounds.
With a clinical trial already underway in oncology in Australia and Europe, the Oxford, UK-based biotech said Thursday that it now has the funds to expand into autoimmune diseases, with testing in humans slated for next year.
The Series B extension, led by alternative asset manager ICG, will also help the startup approximately double its headcount to 45 employees, Grey Wolf CEO Peter Joyce told Endpoints News.
Grey Wolf originally raised $49 million in its Series B, which was disclosed in early 2023. Its backers include Pfizer’s VC arm, Andera Partners, Oxford Science Enterprises, British Patient Capital, Canaan and Earlybird Venture Capital.
The biotech is testing its ERAP1 oral inhibitor GRWD5769 in a Phase 1/2 study in patients with various solid tumors, and initial data are expected to be presented at the upcoming American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting.
The new funding will enable Grey Wolf to expand into three or four different cancer types and explore new combination cohorts, Joyce said. Trial investigators are currently looking at Grey Wolf’s asset alone and paired up with Regeneron’s PD-1 inhibitor Libtayo.
A second ERAP1 inhibitor, named GRWD0715, is expected to enter the clinic next year for ankylosing spondylitis, an inflammatory condition that affects joints and the spine, leading to a hunched posture. Grey Wolf could eventually move into other autoimmune indications like psoriatic arthropathy or inflammatory bowel disease, among others, Joyce said.
While other autoimmune drugs have focused on modulating downstream cytokines and “obviously have had huge success,” Joyce said that Grey Wolf is focused on hitting “the source of autoimmunity here — the actual causative agent.”
“If that proves to be true, [it] will have quite dramatic consequences for a number of different diseases,” the CEO said.