NousCom off-the-shelf Cancer Vaccine Fetches €42M in Series B
Swiss oncolytic virus and vaccine specialist NousCom has now announced the completion of a €42m Series B financing round which it will be using to advance its pipeline of neoantigen based cancer vaccines to the clinic.
The round was led by new investor Abingworth. Co-investors include new 5 AM Ventures, and existing investors LSP and Versant Ventures.
Led by Dr. Alfredo Nicosia, CEO, NousCom is an oncology company developing neoantigen based cancer vaccines based on its Exovax platform, which consists of viral vector-based genetic vaccines encoding cancer neoantigens using proprietary prime/boost technology.
The company intends to use the funds to further advance its lead program NOUS-209, an off-the-shelf cancer vaccine, into Phase I/II clinical studies in 2018. It is planning to develop NOUS-209 as a prophylactic vaccine to prevent the occurrence of cancer in Lynch Syndrome Carriers (a genetically defined patient population with a higher risk of developing colorectal, endometrial, and gastric cancers), and as a therapeutic vaccine for cancers characterized by Microsatellite Instability (tumors containing abnormalities affecting DNA repair).
The company will also further the development of NOUS-100-PV, a personalized neoantigen based vaccine, which is expected to enter clinical studies
in the second half of 2018.NousCom’s third program is an oncolytic virus specifically targeted to tumor cells. This program, which is based on a second platform Endovax, is in the discovery phase.
NousCom’s Exovax platform consists of viral vector-based genetic vaccines encoding cancer neoantigens using proprietary prime/boost technology. Prophylactic vaccines, similar to the ones used by NousCom, have shown to induce potent, durable and high-quality CD8 and CD4 immunological responses in clinical trials against infectious diseases. NousCom’s viral vectors have the ability to encode large numbers of neoantigens – an essential feature for induction of an effective immune response in cancer patients. In addition, the Company has access to a scalable GMP manufacturing facility, which will support its clinical development and future ability to deliver personalized cancer vaccines to patients.
Dr. Alfredo Nicosia, CEO of NousCom, said “This financing, by experienced life sciences investors, represents an important validation of our platform and development strategy. We are delighted to welcome new investors Abingworth and 5 AM and would like to thank our existing investors, LSP and Versant Venture. This investment will enable us to leverage our best in class Exovax platform to accelerate clinical development of our programs.”
Dr. Genghis Lloyd-Harris, a partner of Abingworth, said: “We are excited to work with the team at NousCom to develop its platform which has already demonstrated very promising immunological and efficacy results in preclinical studies. Because of its ability to induce potent CD8 T cell responses, in addition to CD4, and deliver a large amount of immunogenic information, we believe it holds strong promise in the clinic.”
