Oncurious is a Belgium-based biotech company focusing on the development of innovative oncology treatments. The agreement it has reached with VIB is based on the seminal work originating from the VIB-KU Leuven labs of Massimiliano Mazzone and Gabriele Bergers, and from the VIB-VUB lab of Jo Van Ginderachter.
With the agreement Oncurious broadens its ongoing clinical development activities in orphan paediatric oncology through preclinical research and drug development programmes, resulting in an exciting pipeline of next-generation immuno-oncology drugs targeting a broad spectrum of cancers.
VIB Discovery Sciences will take the lead in the pre-clinical development of these new projects.
Dr Johan Cardoen, Managing Director of VIB, said: “VIB has been developing a portfolio of next-generation immuno-oncology assets. As there are a lot of synergies within that portfolio, we also see the opportunity to develop all assets within one company. As a venture partner of Oncurious, we are looking forward to take the company to the next level.”
As part of this agreement, VIB will increase its stake in Oncurious, with ThromboGenics remaining the majority shareholder. VIB will also receive a royalty on future sales of any of these assets and ThromboGenics will invest an additional €2.1 million in Oncurious.
Patrik De Haes, Executive Chairman of Oncurious, said: “This new collaboration with VIB and the resulting portfolio propels Oncurious into the very exciting area of immuno-oncology, with a focus on next generation therapies. We are very privileged to have the world-class VIB-team as our venture partner.”
VIB conducts basic research in the life sciences sector, aiming to push the boundaries of molecular mechanisms and investigate how they rule living organisms, to create tangible results for the benefit of society.
Based on a close partnership with five Flemish universities — Ghent University, KU Leuven, University of Antwerp, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Hasselt University — and supported by a solid funding programme, VIB unites the expertise of 75 research groups in a single institute.
Oncurious is a venture between ThromboGenics NV and VIB and is currently conducting a Phase I/IIa clinical trial for the evaluation of TB-403 in the treatment of medulloblastoma, in collaboration with BioInvent. TB-403 is a humanised monoclonal antibody against placental growth factor (PlGF). PlGF is expressed in several types of cancer, including medulloblastoma.