2Seventy Bio Secures $170 Million in Private Placement to Advance Cell Therapy Pipeline

With a stock market hammering biotech stocks, cancer cell therapy biotech 2Seventy Bio turned to a select group of institutional and accredited investors to weather the storm, raising $170 million in a private placement, before payment of offering commissions and expenses.

Photo: Nick Leschly, chief executive of 2Seventy Bio

Since it was spun out of Bluebird Bio in October 2021, shares have fallen 64 percent and the recent departure of the company’s chief scientific officer, cast doubt on the company’s survival.

Proceeds from the financing will support 2seventy bio’s ongoing research and development activities as well as general corporate purposes and working capital.

“Roughly 100 days into the launch of 2seventy bio, we have taken important steps to secure the company’s financial foundation. We have increasing conviction in the Abcema U.S. commercial launch, we are executing on a plan to rebalance our burn, and we have secured important funding from leading healthcare investors,” said Nick Leschly, chief executive of 2Seventy Bio, who also put his money into the financing. “Taken together, we expect these steps will get us through critical milestones and into 2025.”

2seventy bio ended 2021 with cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $362.2 million. Combined with the company’s expectations for U.S. Abecma commercial sales in 2022, a reduction in expected net cash spend for 2022 to a range of $190 to $220 million, and the net proceeds from the private placement, the company anticipates that it will have sufficient cash and cash equivalents to fund current planned operations into 2025. 2seventy bio anticipates that this runway will bring the company through meaningful clinical data updates, new applications to begin human clinical trials, and continued progress in the commercialization of Abecma.

Bluebird Bio gained U.S. and European marketing approval for Abecma in 2021. It is the first FDA-approved CAR T cell therapy for multiple myeloma, as well as solid tumors.

Author: Rare Daily Staff