Company · Healthtech & Bio

Ability Pharmaceuticals

abilitypharma.com ↗ ·Cerdanyola del Vallès ·Other

Ability Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage (phase 2b) biopharmaceutical company based near Barcelona, Spain, developing first-in-class oncology drugs that induce cytotoxic autophagy selectively in cancer cells. Its lead candidate, ABTL0812 (ibrilatazar), is in phase 2b trials for metastatic pancreatic cancer across the USA, Spain, France and Israel, after completing phase 2a in endometrial and lung cancer. Founded in 2009, it has raised over $37M to date including non-dilutive government/EU funding and VC rounds.

Founded

2009

Founders

News

Rounds

Investors

SectorsBiotechnology, Oncology, Pharmaceuticals, Clinical-stage drug development Start-up MapHealthtech & Bio › Drug discovery & therapeutics developers

Profile updated 20 Jul 2026

Founders

Carles Domènech

Executive Chairman, CEO & Co-Founder

Jordi Espadaler

Co-Founder & Scientific Advisor

Global models 5

Relay Therapeutics

USA · www.relaytx.com ↗

VC-backed clinical-stage oncology biopharma developing first-in-class small-molecule drugs against novel cancer targets, similar to Ability Pharma's model.

~$520MComparable

Nimbus Therapeutics

USA · www.nimbustx.com ↗

Clinical-stage biotech using computational drug discovery to develop novel small-molecule oncology and immunology therapeutics, a comparable VC-funded clinical biopharma model.

~$500MComparable

Kronos Bio

USA · www.kronosbio.com ↗

VC-backed clinical-stage oncology company developing first-in-class small-molecule drugs targeting transcriptional regulators in cancer.

~$252MComparable

Casma Therapeutics

USA · www.casmatx.com ↗

The closest direct comparable: a VC-backed biotech built specifically around modulating autophagy to treat cancer and other diseases, later acquired by Sanofi.

$183MComparable

Vescor Therapeutics

USA

Deerfield/MD Anderson-backed biotech discovering small-molecule inhibitors of the autophagy pathway specifically for pancreatic, lung and melanoma cancers, mirroring Ability Pharma's mechanism.

Undisclosed (est. <$50M)Comparable

Investors 11

CTI Life Sciences Fund

www.ctisciences.com ↗

Investor Canada

EIC Fund (European Innovation Council)

GESAMO

Investor Spain

Inveready

www.inveready.com

Investor Spain

IVAMOSA

Investor Spain

Oncotherapy Private Investments

Investor Spain

SciClone Pharmaceuticals

www.sciclone.com ↗

Investor United States

SODENA

www.sodena.com

Investor Spain

Funding rounds 3

Other · €7M

Clinical-stage biopharma AbilityPharma raised €7M from a European-Canadian syndicate to fully fund the international Phase 2b trial of its o…

2024-03-11

Other · $3M

The Chinese drugmaker SciClone Pharmaceuticals became a shareholder in AbilityPharma with a $3M commitment: $1M invested immediately and $2M…

2020-12-28

Other · €2.5M

The EU's EIC Accelerator awarded AbilityPharma €5M in total: a €2.5M grant plus €2.5M in equity from investors selected by the European Inve…

2020-03-16

News & media 5

Published	Article
2025-06-05	AbilityPharma's IBRILATAZAR (ABTL0812) doubles overall survival in patients with squamous non-small cell lung cancer ↗ Cancer Network
2024-09-09	IBRILATAZAR (ABTL0812) from AbilityPharma increases chemotherapy effectiveness by 40% in patients with endometrial cancer ↗ BioSpace
2024-07-16	AGC Pharma Chemicals and AbilityPharma work together to produce innovative treatment for pancreatic cancer ↗ AGC Pharma Chemicals
2024-03-11	AbilityPharma Completes €7M Investment Round ↗ Contract Pharma
2023-06-01	Ability Pharmaceuticals announces the presentation of the phase 2a results of ABTL0812 as first-line therapy in patients with lung cancer at the ASCO 2023 Annual Meeting in Chicago ↗ Ability Pharma (press release)