Alpha Tau Medical raises $29m

Alpha Tau Medical said today it raised $29 million in a private funding round to help support its alpha radiation cancer therapy technology.

The round was led by Israeli private equity firm Shavit Capital and joined by global equity crowdfunding platform OurCrowd.com and Medison Pharma venture capital arm Medison Ventures, the Israel-based company said. The round was also joined by Apax Partner founds Ronald Cohen and Alan Patricof, Alpha Tau said.

“We are confident that Alpha Tau’s ground-breaking technology can be a game changer in the treatment of cancer. Importantly, under the guidance of an experienced management team, the company has already achieved strategic relationships and trials with leading international medical research centers and is positioned to become a world leader in the development of next-generation radiation oncology therapies,” Shavit Capital founder & managing partner Gary Leibler said in a prepared release.

“We are delighted at Alpha Tau’s rapid development of this important treatment, and are very optimistic about the Alpha DaRT’s potential to activate the immune system and to become a valid treatment option for metastatic cancer,” Medison Pharma founder & CEO Meir Jakobsohn said in a press release.

The company is developing an alpha-radiation-based cancer treatment, dubbed the Alpha DaRT, for treating different types of solid tumors. The system is intended to deliver high-precision alpha-radiation through radioactive substances which decay inside the tumor. Cancer cells are killed by the short-range alpha particles while surrounding tissue is spared, the company said.

Alpha Tau said it has already launched clinical trials exploring the use of the system in treating pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, head and neck cancer, gynecological cancer and prostate cancer. The company also said it has established subsidiaries in the US and Japan and is seeking further collaborations to improve local distribution and manufacturing.

“We are excited by the strong support provided by these distinguished investors. The funding will be invaluable to explore the full potential of the Alpha DaRT as a cancer treatment for clinical trials worldwide, as well as establish global production facilities for the radioactive DaRT seeds to meet local distribution demand,” Alpha Tau CEO Uzi Sofer said in a prepared statement.

Last month, Alpha Tau Medical said it won approval to launch clinical trials of its Alpha DaRT system in the US through a new permit from the Massachusetts Radiation Control Program.

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