Philips spin-off raises $64 million for click-to-release drugs

Tagworks Pharmaceuticals, a spin-off of Philips Healthcare, has raised $65 million in series A financing for its click-to-release therapies. The Dutch firm releases a therapeutic payload from a targeting molecule using a click reaction with a trigger molecule. Its lead program is an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) that can be cleaved with click chemistry and targets a tumor-associated glycoprotein. The drug is made to allow a fine-tuned release and activation of the drug payload. Tagwork’s pipeline also contains ADCs and radiopharmaceuticals in the discovery phase.