SAB announces government funding, private investment for COVID-19 therapeutic and scaling antibody program

Aug. 6, 2020

Sioux Falls-based SAB Biotherapeutics has received an additional $35.6 million in government funding, plus $14 million in series B funding that includes a new investor – global health care leader Merck.

The Sioux Falls clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company has a proprietary technology that produces fully human polyclonal antibodies without the need for human plasma donors.

It has a produced a therapeutic using that technology specifically designed to target SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

“Our team is urgently and diligently executing on development and scaling to respond to the current coronavirus pandemic,” co-founder, president and CEO Eddie Sullivan said in a statement.

SAB filed its investigational new drug application for its therapeutic SAB-185 just 98 days from initiating the program, he added.

With collaboration from the federal government, the therapeutic candidate is rapidly advancing, he said, adding it “will strengthen our capabilities and build our capacities to be responsive to future emerging threats with safe and effective human polyclonal antibody therapies.”

The $35.6 million expands the scope of SAB’s DiversitAb Rapid Response Antibody Program contract from the Department of Defense Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense, Joint Project Lead for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense Enabling Biotechnologies.

That brings SAB’s total government funding awards to $72 million for its rapid-response capability and the development of its COVID-19 therapeutic.

Further, the federal government is providing direct funding for first-in-human clinical trials for the COVID-19 therapeutic, which are poised to begin this month, SAB said in the statement.

Additionally, the company announced recently it has closed its Series B funding round of $14 million, which includes Merck. The global company was joined by South Dakota Equity Partners and several other follow-on and private investors.

“The onset of the current pandemic precipitated a mobilization to rapidly address COVID-19 and a focus on providing a therapeutic solution to this crisis,” said Edward Hamilton, executive chairman of the board of directors for SAB Biotherapeutics. “Our successful track record in emerging infectious disease and rapid-response contract with the United States government has garnered significant additional support, and we are working in concert with our partners to deliver a potential new class of therapy as quickly as possible.”

With the Series B, the company has raised $50 million in equity and secured more than $100 million in non-dilutive funding in the form of grants and contracts since its founding.

“It’s the continued confidence of our existing investors and the follow-on investments in the platform technology that has bolstered our ability to deliver a differentiated solution that is able to respond to this pandemic,” Hamilton said.

“We’re delighted to have Merck, an innovative global health care leader, and one of the top 10 R&D investors worldwide, join our group of investors as we look to apply this innovative immunotherapy platform across several therapeutic categories, including infectious disease, autoimmune, inflammation and oncology.”

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SAB announces government funding, private investment for COVID-19 therapeutic and scaling antibody program

Sioux Falls-based SAB Biotherapeutics has received an additional $35.6 million in government funding, plus $14 million in series B funding that includes a new investor – global health care leader Merck.

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