• Founding investor Forbion joined by co-lead investors, Morningside Ventures and Ascendant BioCapital, and other leaders in global biopharmaceutical investment
• Funding will support initiation and finalization of Phase 3 development of obicetrapib, a potent ApoB and LDL-c lowering small molecule drug, intended for patients not well-controlled on statins
• Earlier seed funding of €20M was provided by Forbion and Founders

Naarden, the Netherlands, and Munich, Germany, January 14 2021 – Forbion, a leading European life sciences venture capital firm, today announces that its portfolio company, NewAmsterdam Pharma (NAP), a clinical stage company focused on the research and development of transformative therapies for cardio-metabolic diseases, has completed an oversubscribed €160M ($196M) Series A funding round.

The financing will support the full Phase 3 development of its ApoB and LDL-c lowering small molecule drug, obicetrapib. The drug, a cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) inhibitor, is being developed for patients who are not well-controlled on statins.

Forbion, NAP’s founding investor, was joined by Morningside Ventures and Ascendant BioCapital as co-lead investors in the Series A financing. Also participating in this funding round were Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, BVF Partners L.P., Population Health Partners, LSP Dementia Fund, Peter Thiel, Janus Henderson Investors, Medpace, GL Capital, JVC Investment Partners, and Presight Capital.

“This is an important milestone in the advancement of obicetrapib and the growth of NewAmsterdam Pharma,” said Michael Davidson, MD, Chief Executive Officer of NewAmsterdam Pharma. “The tremendous support of our investors allows us to initiate a large, Phase 3 development program as we work to create a new option for the millions of high cardiovascular risks patients globally who, despite maximally tolerated statin therapy, require additional LDL-c lowering options.”

“Effectively inhibiting CETP to reduce atherosclerotic risk in patients is something Dr. Davidson and I have been endeavoring to achieve in our field of research for more than two decades,” said John Kastelein, MD, PhD, FESC, chief scientific officer of NewAmsterdam Pharma. “Long term follow up from the 2017 REVEAL study validated CETP as a target to lower LDL-c and reduce major adverse cardiac events (MACE).¹ We believe that in obicetrapib, based on clinical studies to date, we have a molecule which is well tolerated and has not shown any of the safety issues of previous CETP inhibitors. Furthermore, based on the surrogate endpoints of the REVEAL study, obicetrapib was shown to be more effective at lowering LDL-c at a 5 mg dose in comparison to a 100 mg dose of anacetrapib.”

Sander Slootweg, Managing Partner at Forbion, said: “We are pleased to see NewAmsterdam Pharma raise such an impressive Series A round so soon after its formation, and we welcome the new investor syndicate on board. This raise will allow NAP’s seasoned management team to deliver a full Phase 3 development program for obicetrapib, exploring its potential in addressing the huge and poorly served patient population at risk of cardiovascular disease who are not well-controlled on statins.”

Two Phase 2b clinical trials for obicetrapib are underway with targeted completion in Q2 2021.
NAP is looking to initiate Phase 3 clinical trials towards the end of this year.

^{1. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/study/NCT01252953}