Century Therapeutics has raised $60 million and acquired a Boston biotechnology firm, moves made to support the cell therapy company's operations and expand its product pipeline.

The private placement of nearly 16 million shares of Century stock is being led by new investor Bain Capital Life Sciences. Other new investors include Adage Capital Partners LP, Octagon Capital, and Superstring Capital. Existing investors Casdin Capital, Boxer Capital, Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners and DAFNA Capital Management LLC are also participating.

Philadelphia-based Century (NASDAQ: IPSC) said the funding reinforces its cash runway into 2026. Century lost $136.7 million in 2023. As of Dec. 31, the company had cash and cash equivalents of $47.3 million and investments of $214.5 million.

Century also announced on Thursday the acquisition of Clade Therapeutics, a privately held company working to develop a stem-cell treatment for cancer. The company is headed by Chad Cowan, a Harvard Stem Cell Institute professor and serial entrepreneur whose discoveries helped launch CRISPR Therapeutics and Sana Biotechnology. Clade raised an $87 million Series A funding round in November 2021.

Century is paying $35 million upfront for Clade, comprising a mix of cash and shares of Century common stock. The shares represent a 16.7% premium to Century’s closing price of $3.68 per share on Wednesday. An additional one-time milestone payment of $10 million will be due upon the achievement of a future clinical milestone.

The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions.

Founded in 2018, Century Therapeutics is developing induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived therapies to treat hematologic and solid tumor cancers. Its goal is to harness the power of adult stem cells to develop cell therapy products that are able to overcome the limitations, such as host rejection, of first-generation cell therapies.

The company's technology involves bioengineering the stem cells and turning them into T cells and NK (natural killer) cells that attack and kill tumor cells. Its lead product candidate, CNTY-101, targets a relapsed/refractory type of cancer that forms in white blood cells known as B-cell lymphoma.

Through the Clade deal, Century said its pipeline will expand to incorporate additional next-generation iNK and iT programs spanning targets in cancer, and autoimmune diseases. The programs include CLDE-308, a cell program targeting CD19 in autoimmune disease and B-cell malignancies.

Based at One uCity Square, Century Therapeutics raised $242 million in June 2021 through an initial public offering.

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CENTURY THERAPEUTICS

Century Therapeutics has been led since late 2023 by CEO Brent Pfeiffenberger, an industry veteran who was previously chief operating officer at Neogene Therapeutics, a subsidiary of AstraZeneca.

As of March 1, the company has 152 full-time employees and 13 part-time employees, according to federal filings. The 165 employees is down 10% from a year before as life sciences companies across Philadelphia and the U.S. have trimmed their headcounts amid a challenging funding environment.

Goodwin Procter is legal counsel for Century and Lazard acted as the company's financial adviser on the Clade acquisition. Cooley is legal counsel to Clade Therapeutics.

Author: Ryan Sharrow

Publication: The Philadelphia Business Journal

Link: Century Therapeutics raises $60M, acquires Boston life sciences company - Philadelphia Business Journal (bizjournals.com)