Cancer Research UK has helped launch three spinouts after partnering with Deep Science Ventures (DSV) on a project designed to support scientists working on ideas for new cancer therapies.
The result of the entrepreneurial initiative was three spinout companies that are engineering viruses to seek and destroy cancer cells and bacteria to break down the physical defences of tumours.
Cancer Research UK has supported the companies with pre-seed capital which will allow them to generate proof of concept data so they can demonstrate whether their approaches within oncology work.
Tony Hickson, chief business officer at Cancer Research UK, said: “Many of these fledgling ventures are neglected by investors for more advanced projects, meaning that some of the most innovative projects may never even make it out of the gate.
“This is why at Cancer Research UK we support cancer researchers to develop entrepreneurial skills and create spinout companies. We help define the most pressing areas of research and bring together some of the best scientific minds to turn ideas into ventures.”
The three companies are:
Stratosvir, who will develop improved oncolytic viruses engineered to allow systemic delivery to cancer cells, avoiding immune clearance. Destruction of therapeutic viruses by the patient’s immune system is one of the key reasons that such therapies have largely disappointed in trials to date, despite having potential to be the ideal weapons to treat solid tumours.
Neobe Therapeutics, who will engineer bacteria to create a new therapy that locates tumours and actively breaks down the physical barriers of the tumour microenvironment (TME), the complex system of cancer cells and immune cells, along with proteins and blood vessels. Disrupting the integrity of the TME will allow improved penetration of drugs and immune cells to combat the cancer.
Enedra Therapeutics who will look to identify new targets for synthetic lethality to overcome the current problems of modest response rates and rapid resistance in patients. Synthetic lethality is the phenomenon where simultaneous perturbation of two genes leads to tumour cell death.
Kerstin Papenfuss, associate director for Therapeutics, Deep Science Ventures, said: “This is the first time that we have collaborated with a research charity. Bringing together DSV’s structured approach to creating life science ventures and the ability to tap into Cancer Research UK’s expert network of researchers has allowed us to create these three high-impact companies.
“We are excited to see how these highly innovative and multidisciplinary companies will grow and transform their respective fields”.
The success of the partnership means that Cancer Research UK will continue to work with DSV to build additional companies in selected therapy areas.