Af­ter a ma­jor facelift, Al­tru­Bio says it's ready for a piv­otal fight against graft-ver­sus-host dis­ease

Al­tru­Bio got a makeover, and now it’s ready for its close­up.

CEO Judy Chou took over last Jan­u­ary — when the biotech was still known as AbGe­momics — on a mis­sion to re­build and re­brand. She culled the com­pa­ny’s on­col­o­gy pro­gram to laser in on an old im­munol­o­gy can­di­date. Now with a new board, a new name and new cash, the com­pa­ny has its eyes set on a piv­otal study.

On Thurs­day, Al­tru­Bio un­veiled a $63 mil­lion Se­ries A round to fund its trans­for­ma­tion. Its lead can­di­date, nei­hulizum­ab (al­so known as AbGn-168H), is an im­mune check­point reg­u­la­tor tar­get­ing PS­GL-1, a gly­co­pro­tein found on white blood cells and en­dothe­lial cells. Ear­li­er this month, the Phase Ib can­di­date nabbed FDA fast track des­ig­na­tion in steroid re­frac­to­ry acute graft-ver­sus-host dis­ease (SR-aGVHD).

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