ATB’s €54M series A among largest ever in Belgium

EQT and Merck’s venture arm joined local Belgian investors in a round for antibody developer ABT that ranks as the fourth-largest series A for a biotech start-up in Belgium, according to BioCentury’s BCIQ database.

The €54 million ($57 million) round will allow ABT Therapeutics Inc. to develop of a pipeline of “weaponized” antibodies that incorporate targeting and killing domains. Unlike traditional antibody-drug conjugates, the company’s ATBody products deploy peptide payloads rather than chemotherapy molecules to destroy cancer cells; they can also be designed to treat autoimmune diseases...