Pontifax leads Abac’s €16M series A round

Abac Therapeutics S.A. (Barcelona, Spain) raised €16 million ($19.6 million) in a series A round led by Pontifax. New investors Global Health Science Fund, Caixa Capital Risc and Debiopharm Innovation Fund participated, as did existing investor Ferrer.

Abac uses its PasNas platform to discover antibiotics targeting Gram-negative bacteria. The company expects the financing will allow it to begin clinical studies of its lead program, which targets multi-drug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii.

Pontifax's Silvia Noiman, Quark Venture's Zafrira Avnur, Caixa's Carlos Esteban, Debiopharm's Bea Arnold and Ferrer's Olga Fidalgo will join Abac's board. Global Health Science Fund was established jointly by Quark and GF Securities Co. Ltd. (SZSE:000776; HKSE:1776) (see BioCentury, Oct. 31, 2016).