TVM Capital and Tillotts fund Mage Biologics’ IBD antibody with up to $28M

Mage Biologics debuted Thursday with a $28 million commitment from TVM Capital Life Science and specialty pharma company Tillotts Pharma.

The new biotech is centered around a single asset — a preclinical oral antibody drug for inflammatory diseases. Mage hopes to first test the drug candidate in ulcerative colitis, a form of inflammatory bowel disease, and expects to file to test it in clinical trials in 2024.

Sascha Berger

“This approach of developing an oral antibody has always been a super-interesting concept, and many in the industry refer to it as the holy grail to have a local, oral therapeutic for ulcerative colitis,” TVM Capital partner and Mage Biologics board member Sascha Berger said in a phone interview.

Mage will be led by CEO Johannes Spleiss, who is also head of scientific affairs at Tillotts. The antibody originated from Tillotts’ drug discovery partnership with Numab Therapeutics, an antibody discovery biotech based in Switzerland that also has collaborations with Boehringer Ingelheim and Eisai.

Mage has the option to work with Eli Lilly’s Chorus, a small, independent R&D unit within the Big Pharma that works on both internal and external projects. Lilly was a limited partner in both of TVM’s life sciences funds, including the one that is investing in Mage.

Berger declined to disclose exactly what target the antibody goes after. “It is a well-known target,” Berger said. “But it has never been drugged, certainly never successfully been drugged with an oral antibody.”

Berger also noted the potential of an oral ulcerative colitis drug to be used in combination with other treatment options.

The work on the antibody spans the Atlantic. Tillotts Pharma is headquartered in Switzerland and TVM is in Germany and Luxembourg, but Mage itself is a US-based company. Lilly’s Chorus is based in Indianapolis, while the CRO it’s working with for the Mage project is from Canada.

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