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UK Startups and Innovation
13MAY

CellCentric raises Europe's largest 2026 biotech round

4 min read
20:05UTC

CellCentric closed a $220m Series D on 5 May led by Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, with Pfizer and Fidelity co-investing: Europe's largest private biotech financing of 2026, drawn entirely from private capital.

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Key takeaway

CellCentric's $220m Series D with Pfizer proves UK oncology commands US-sized rounds without public subsidy.

CellCentric closed a $220m Series D on 5 May 2026, which BioSpace and BioPharma Dive reported as the largest private biotech financing in Europe in 2026.⁠1 Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners led; Fidelity Management and Research, Sofinnova Partners, HBM Healthcare, RA Capital Management, Forbion, Pfizer, Avego BioScience Capital, and the American Cancer Society BrightEdge initiative co-invested.

The capital funds Phase 2 DOMMINO-1 trials, running in both the UK and the United States, for inobrodib, an oral p300/CBP (a histone acetyltransferase target) inhibitor for relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma. Phase 3 (DOMMINO-2) is planned for H2 2026. inobrodib's oral formulation is clinically significant: multiple myeloma treatment is predominantly infusion-based today, and an oral option changes the outpatient economics of treatment substantially for a patient population that requires long-term maintenance therapy.

Pfizer's entry at Phase 2 stage is the signal that compresses the typical trade-sale timeline. When a major pharmaceutical company enters a Series D alongside a Phase 2 readout, it is typically conducting buy-versus-build analysis in parallel: the equity position gives Pfizer visibility into the DOMMINO-1 data before it is public. For CellCentric, that creates a dual path to liquidity: a Phase 3 success that supports an independent listing, or an acquisition by a strategic already inside the syndicate.

No UK public investor participated in the round. CellCentric kept its Phase 2 and capital fully in the UK without any state anchor. At $220m with Pfizer in, public capital was neither needed nor sought. The FCA and PRA had cut SM&CR (Senior Managers and Certification Regime) certification roles by 15% on 22 April, reducing regulatory overhead for authorised financial participants in biotech rounds, a signal that the UK regulatory environment is loosening at both the investment and company level simultaneously. UK oncology founders with credible Phase 2 data can now argue for a US-sized Series D from London; the Boston relocation pressure has dropped a notch.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

CellCentric is developing a cancer drug called inobrodib for multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that affects the bone marrow. inobrodib is taken as a tablet rather than an infusion, which matters enormously for patients who need long-term treatment: monthly infusion clinic visits over years are exhausting and disruptive to daily life. The company raised $220m in May 2026, described as the largest private funding round for a European biotech company in 2026. Pfizer, one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, invested alongside US and European specialist healthcare funds. The money funds Phase 2 clinical trials in the UK and US, with a larger Phase 3 global trial planned for the second half of 2026. No UK government money joined the round; the BBB's £40m-per-company cap would have covered less than 20% of the $220m raise, and Venrock, Pfizer, and Fidelity filled the syndicate without it.

Deep Analysis
Root Causes

Multiple myeloma's relapsed/refractory segment represents a structural market failure in oncology: patients exhaust approved therapies faster than new approvals arrive, creating a persistent unmet need that Pfizer, J&J, and BMS have all tried to address through acquisitions and licensing.

CellCentric's oral formulation addresses a specific constraint in the relapsed segment: patients receiving maintenance therapy over years find infusion-based treatments logistically unsustainable, and an oral agent that maintains efficacy while eliminating infusion clinic visits has health-economics advantages independent of clinical differentiation.

The DOMMINO-1 Phase 2 running simultaneously in the UK and US is a regulatory strategy as much as a clinical one: dual-jurisdiction Phase 2 data compresses the time to Biologics License Application in the US while supporting a UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) submission from the same dataset.

What could happen next?
  • Opportunity

    Pfizer's Series D equity position creates a structured acquisition option that CellCentric can exercise via a Phase 3 success: a bilateral deal with Pfizer already inside the syndicate avoids a competitive auction process and provides balance-sheet certainty for the development programme.

  • Consequence

    CellCentric's $220m with no BBB participation, on the same day as Cytospire's oversubscribed BBB-backed round, establishes that UK oncology companies with credible Phase 2 assets do not require public co-investment to close US-scale rounds; the BBB's additionality case is stronger in early-stage rounds where private lead investors are absent.

Sources:BioSpace
Mentions:inobrodib →CellCentric →Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners →Pfizer →Sofinnova Partners →Forbion →Phase 3 →Senior Managers and Certification Regime →United States →Boston →Paris →Nasdaq →Fidelity →American Cancer Society BrightEdge →BioSpace →BioPharma Dive →HBM Healthcare →RA Capital Management →Avego BioScience Capital →Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency →
First Reported In

Update #4 · State capital lands on UK tech in nine days

BioSpace· 13 May 2026
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