Miramar, FL - Altor Bioscience, a company developing treatments that target drugs directly at a tumor or virus, has closed on $1.2 million as part of a series of C1 round investments. Sanderling Ventures, which led the company’s B round, and private investors participated. Dean Taylor, Altor’s chief business development officer, says the company keeps its raises small to remain 51 percent owned by private investors and eligible for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)grants.

The company has raised a total of about $21 million in three rounds and $8.1 million in non-dilutive funds from the National Institutes of Health, the Gates Foundation, and SBIR grants.

“We just received a $3 million SBIR bridge grant for a Phase II clinical trial we’re starting,” says Taylor, and we’re applying for additional Phase II SBIRs now that Phase I trials are finished. That could pull in an additional $7 million.”

The grants are very competitive and the company is “on pins and needles” waiting to hear what Congress will do when it re-ups the SBIR program this month. “We’ve heard all sorts of proposals,” says Taylor. “They could change their funding requirements to make it more competitive.”

If that occurs, Altor could proceed with a larger venture round without as much concern over losing potential SBIR grants, he notes.

For Altor, he says, “10 million would be a big venture round. We’re confident that if we did decide to do a D round, we could develop interest,” Taylor says. To lay the ground work in case the company does decide to go forward with a D round, it will present at several venture conferences, including the SEBIO event in Charleston in December.

Altor previously presented at the third annual Southeast Venture Conference, which plans its fourth event in Tysons Corner, VA, in February (see: www.sevc.org for more information).

Taylor says Altor anticipates any one of three events over the next few years that could determine its future path.

The licensing of its “legacy” antibody factor products now in clinical trials could put the company on solid financial footing.

It has out-licensed a product now in Phase III trials. If that is approved and has large sales, the company would receive royalties. It has a tissue factor antibody product in Phase II trials that Genentech can option to take on when the trial completes. If it does, that would mean milestone and potential royalty payments. A third product supported in clinical trials by an SBIR grant could also be licensed out.

“Any one of those things could put us in the black,” Taylor says, “although we may need that $10 million round as a bridge.”

Eventually, the company hopes to develop its own pipeline products.

Hing C. Wong formed Altor in 2002 as a spin-off from Sunol Molecular Corp. Because its technology was in development years before it was formed, it is much further ahead than most startups.

The company’s “STAR” technology captures the disease targeting ability of the T-cell receptor. By detecting novel disease targets on the surface of cells and tissues, it can deliver a fused, already approved drug directly to a cancerous tumor or deadly virus.

It’s a novel approach with considerable promise to increase the effectiveness of current treatments. It offers hope for extending the lives and the quality of life for people suffering from a number of cancers.

Altor employs 20 people.

Online: www.altorbioscience.com

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