NeoPhore Limited, a company specialising in small molecule neoantigen immuno-oncology, today announces a further extension of £9.6m to its Series B financing round.
With participation from its existing syndicate, CPF managed by Sixth Element Capital, Claris Ventures, Astellas Venture Management, 3B Future Health Fund, 2investAG, and the addition of three new investors – NEVA SGR (the venture capital arm of Intesa Sanpaolo banking group), LIFTT (the venture capital focused on deep-tech chaired by Stefano Buono) and Simon Fiduciaria (the fiduciary company of Ersel Group). This extension brings the total raised in Series B financing to £31.1m.
NeoPhore is building a pipeline of small molecule drugs targeting novel proteins across the DNA mismatch repair ('MMR') pathway to generate next-generation immuno-oncology therapeutics to improve clinical outcomes for cancer patients.
NeoPhore’s first-in-class MMR inhibitors induce neoantigen expression and increase immunogenicity in solid tumours that become exquisitely sensitive to immunotherapy.
The additional Series B funding will be used to progress NeoPhore’s lead oral program, through early pre-clinical development.
Dr Robert James, Chairman of NeoPhore, said: “Over the past years NeoPhore has made strides in showing that it is possible to target the MMR pathway with small molecule inhibitors. The recent data the Company has generated and presented at an international conference leads us to believe that NeoPhore’s approach may be profoundly important."
He continues: "We are pleased to welcome three new Italian-based investors to our syndicate as well as further funding from existing investors. Their commitment reflects the potential value of NeoPhore’s approach that exploits the dynamics of cancer neoantigen evolution, through the discovery and design of effective, well-tolerated medicines that will become a key part of the next-generation of cancer immunotherapies. We are very excited about the next stage in the life of the Company.”