PsiOxus
Therapeutics, Ltd. (PsiOxus) announced that it has closed a Series B
round of equity financing totaling £22 million ($34 million). The round
included equal investments from existing investors Imperial
Innovations Group (AIM: IVO, 'Innovations') and Invesco
Perpetual together with new investments by SR
One and Lundbeckfond
Ventures.
The financing round will enable PsiOxus to advance the clinical
development of ColoAd1,
a systemically available oncolytic
vaccine, through a series of phase I and phase II clinical trials
for the treatment of colorectal and other forms of cancer. PsiOxus was
formed to commercialise technologies, generated in leading UK
Universities, which were originally seed funded by Imperial Innovations
and the Mercia Fund.
ColoAd1 is a unique therapeutic candidate developed using the
evolutionary principle of natural selection to generate an oncolytic
vaccine with optimal anti-cancer properties. The vaccine is injected
into the bloodstream and can replicate in and kill cancer cells but not
normal cells. Each infected cell produces thousands of new copies of
ColoAd1, which then spread to nearby cancer cells and kills them as
well. The approach thus represents a new generation of 'self-amplifying'
cancer therapy that has both a direct tumor killing and cancer vaccine
effect. The first clinical trial of ColoAd1 will be initiated later this
year in patients with metastatic solid tumours, to determine the safety
and tolerability of the vaccine.
Commenting on the announcement, Susan Searle, Chief Executive Officer of
Imperial Innovations, said, "PsiOxus continues to make great strides in
translating its truly novel science into therapies that address major
unmet medical needs for patients. We believe that ColoAd1 can represent
a significant breakthrough in oncolytic vaccines and has the potential
to open an entirely new approach to cancer therapy."