CEO: Philina Lee

AdvanCell, a Brisbane-based clinical-stage radiopharmaceutical company developing targeted alpha therapies for cancer, has closed an oversubscribed and upsized US$315 million (about A$452 million) Series D. Based on the available numbers, it is the largest fundraising ever completed by a private Australian biotech.

Ally Bridge Group led the round, with Alpha Wave co-leading. The round also included Bain Capital Life Sciences, Fidelity Management & Research Company, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, an unnamed sovereign wealth fund, Eventide Asset Management and Velosity Capital. Existing backers Morningside, Eli Lilly and Company, SV Health Investors, Sanofi Ventures, Abingworth, SymBiosis, Tenmile, Brandon Capital, Piper Heartland, Catalio Capital Management, Proto Axiom and Time BioVentures also came along. Andrew Lam of Ally Bridge and Nik Economopoulos of Alpha Wave join the board.

AdvanCell's platform is built around proprietary Lead-212 technology, and its lead program, ADVC001, is a Lead-212 PSMA-targeted alpha therapy for metastatic prostate cancer, currently in Phase 2 (NCT05720130). The pitch for alpha therapy is precision: it can deliver potent alpha radiation to tumour cells while sparing healthy tissue, addressing the resistance and tolerability limits that dog existing PSMA radioligand treatments. The company says Phase 1b showed encouraging anti-tumour activity and favourable tolerability. This round takes ADVC001 toward registrational Phase 3.

Targeted alpha therapy has been held back less by chemistry than by supply chain, because the isotopes are hard to source and harder to manufacture at scale. AdvanCell's answer was to own the whole chain: isotope supply, automated manufacturing, and vertically integrated, scalable production.

AdvanCell now describes itself as operating out of Boston and Brisbane, with sites in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Boston, and the proceeds are explicitly earmarked for expanding US isotope supply and manufacturing.