3 years ago

Epitopea Secures $13.6 Million Seed Funding to Develop Novel Cancer Immunotherapies

  • Epitopea, a transatlantic cancer immunotherapeutics company based in Cambridge, UK and Montreal, Canada, has raised $13.6 million in seed funding

  • The round was led by Advent Life Sciences and included participation from CTI Life Sciences, Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC), Fonds de solidarité FTQ, Novateur Ventures, and the Harrington Discovery Institute/University Health Holdings

  • Epitopea's technology focuses on identifying and targeting a new class of antigens that are broadly shared between patients with the same cancer indication

  • The company plans to use the funds to build its executive team, advance further research on its new class of antigens, and translate them into novel cancer immunotherapeutics, including therapeutic vaccines, cell therapies, and TCR-based biologics.

      • ProblemHealthcare

      "Currently, cancer immunotherapy is not effective for everyone, and patients with the same cancer often respond differently to treatment. This is because current therapies often target antigens that are shared between healthy and cancerous cells, leading to off-target effects and limited efficacy. "

      Solution

      "Epitopea is developing a new class of cancer immunotherapies that target Cryptigen™ TSAs, which are conserved, aberrantly-expressed, tumour-specific antigens hidden in cancer’s ‘junk’ DNA. These antigens are unique to cancer cells, meaning that therapies targeting them can be more specific and effective. Epitopea uses a proprietary approach that combines immunopetidomics, mass spectrometry, genomics, and bioinformatics to identify these Cryptigen™ TSAs, and the company is developing therapeutic vaccines, cell therapies, and TCR-based biologics based on these targets."

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