InProTher announces €6M seed funding for first-in-class cancer immunotherapy drug
Raised with participation from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund, the financing will accelerate IPT001, a first-in-class immunotherapy against solid tumors, into clinical development.
Incubated at the BioInnovation Institute (BII) and seeded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, InProTher was established to develop immunotherapies designed to overcome the limitations of cancer vaccines.
InProTher is targeting the Human Endogenous Retroviruses (HERVs) to treat cancer. HERVS are well recognized as tumor specific antigens, but until now, have been undruggable.
The biotech is doing this with ‘powerful technology’ that stimulates both arms of the immune system, the humoral and the cellular response. In addition,it delivers the immunogen by using Adenoviral and RNA vectors.
InProTher has generated robust pre-clinical, proof-of-concept data that demonstrates therapeutic potential for multiple oncology indications including pancreatic, ovarian, breast and prostate cancer. It plans to enter First-In-Human (FIH) trials in 2024.
To support its growth, InProTher has also appointed Dr Hamina Patel as chief medical Oofficer, and Dr Sven Rohmann as chairman of the board of directors.
“InProTher is shifting the paradigm in cancer immunotherapy and is at an exciting phase of growth. Our aim is to unlock the full potential of immunotherapy in cancer,” said Jordi Naval, CEO of InProTher.
“We believe InProTher can solve the limitations of current cancer vaccines, as our pre-clinical data has shown that our immunotherapy induces higher tumor control, survival rate and tumor efficacy, compared to other competing approaches.
“I am very pleased to welcome Sven and Hamina to InProTher. Their expertise and track record of success will be invaluable as we accelerate the development of our lead candidate into clinical development.”
The seed round includes private investors and a convertible loan from EICF. InProTher is also planning to raise an additional Series A to finance the pivot from preclinical to clinical development.
