Pomegra
Seattle biotech InduPro closed a $77M Series B led by The Column Group as its bispecific ADC IDP-001 dosed its first patient in a Phase 1 NSCLC trial.
- The Column Group led the $77M round; Sanofi and Eli Lilly entered as new investors alongside four existing backers including Vida Ventures and MRL Ventures Fund.
- IDP-001, a bispecific ADC co-targeting EGFR and CDCP1, entered a first-in-human Phase 1 study in advanced NSCLC and other squamous solid tumors.
- Eli Lilly's parallel $950M licensing collaboration, signed in January 2026, makes its Series B participation a vote of confidence in the platform, not just the program.
Lead
InduPro, a four-year-old Seattle biotech, closed a $77 million Series B on August 12, 2026, the same day it announced the first patient had been dosed in a Phase 1 trial of IDP-001, its lead antibody-drug conjugate targeting advanced non-small cell lung cancer. The Column Group led the financing. Sanofi and Eli Lilly entered as new investors, joining existing backers Vida Ventures, MRL Ventures Fund, Emerson Collective advised by Yosemite, and Euclidean Capital.
The timing is deliberate. Clinical entry and a capital raise announced together signal that InduPro completed its platform-building phase without needing to return to investors mid-trial.
What Is InduPro's Technology?
InduPro's core asset is the MInt Membrane Interactomics Platform, which maps spatial co-localization of proteins on tumor cell surfaces to identify co-target pairs for bispecific and multispecific therapeutics. The underlying photocatalytic proximity labeling method was published in Science in 2020 by the founding team, led by Scientific Founder Chris Garcia and CSO Scott Lesley. Machine learning layers over the mapping data to rank candidate pairs by disease relevance.
IDP-001 embodies the approach directly. It co-targets EGFR, among the most validated drivers in oncology, and CDCP1, which InduPro designates TAPA-E1 (Tumor-Associated Proximity Antigen 1). The bispecific design is intended to increase tumor selectivity over monospecific EGFR-targeted agents and reduce off-target tissue binding, a persistent liability in ADC development.
Why Did Two Pharma Giants Back This Round?
Lilly's entry into the cap table is not a cold bet. In January 2026, Eli Lilly signed a global strategic collaboration with InduPro worth up to $950 million, covering up to three oncology targets, with an initial equity investment included in the terms. Participating in the Series B extends that commitment. Sanofi, joining for the first time, runs its own active ADC franchise and gains early visibility into a platform capable of identifying novel bispecific targets outside its current portfolio.
Strategic pharma investors bring credibility that pure financial backers cannot replicate. They also bring complicated interests. Both Lilly and Sanofi maintain competing ADC programs, which creates structural tension as IDP-001 advances and InduPro negotiates its pipeline's independence.
The IDP-001 Phase 1 Trial
The study (NCT07602842) is an open-label, dose-escalation, first-in-human trial evaluating IDP-001 as monotherapy in adults with advanced squamous or non-squamous NSCLC and other squamous solid tumors that have progressed on standard-of-care therapy. Primary endpoints cover safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics. Preliminary antitumor activity is a secondary endpoint.
NSCLC is a crowded field. EGFR-targeted therapies from established players dominate earlier lines of treatment, and the ADC space has grown substantially since trastuzumab deruxtecan reshaped expectations for payload delivery. IDP-001's claim to differentiation - simultaneous EGFR and CDCP1 engagement improving tumor selectivity - is biologically coherent. It has not been tested in patients. That is what the Phase 1 is for.
What Comes Next for InduPro?
The $77 million is earmarked for Phase 1 clinical development and early proof-of-concept data generation for IDP-001, plus advancement of a broader preclinical pipeline. The Lilly collaboration separately funds discovery work on up to three additional targets. No post-money valuation was disclosed.
Near-term data catalysts - dose-escalation safety data and early pharmacokinetic readouts - will define the narrative heading into any Series C. A clean safety profile with early signs of target engagement in EGFR-driven tumors would give InduPro significant leverage in those negotiations. An unexpected toxicity event in the EGFR-expressing normal tissue that the bispecific design is meant to spare would raise harder questions about the platform's central thesis.
Outlook
InduPro enters the clinic with $77 million, two of the largest pharma companies in oncology at the cap table, and a lead program positioned to test a biologically novel approach in an indication where novelty is genuinely scarce. The platform has attracted serious scientific and commercial attention. Clinical validation is the next required step, and Phase 1 results over the next 12 to 24 months will determine whether proximity-guided target selection produces the selectivity advantage InduPro has built its pipeline around.
