Oxford Vacmedix (OVM), a UK-based biopharmaceutical spinout from University of Oxford, today closed a £9m ($12.5m) series A round featuring molecular diagnostics company Cancer ROP.
The round also featured unnamed, existing shareholders based in China.
Founded in 2012, Oxford Vacmedix has created a platform to develop cancer vaccines and diagnostic tools. The approach exploits recombinant overlapping peptides (ROP), which stimulate T cell immunity – T cells are a natural part of the human system and an important basis for immunotherapy.
OVM is based on research led by Shisong Jiang in University of Oxford’s Department of Oncology, in partnership with Medical Research Council’s Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine.
The cash will allow the company to conclude pre-clinical development and advance two lead vaccines, OVM-100 and OVM-200, into phase 1 clinical trials. OVM-100 is aimed at cervical cancer, while OVM-200 targets solid tumours.
Additionally, the spinout will continue development of its diagnostic tools.
The spinout previously reportedly raised £1m ($1.4m) in seed funding, though details could not be confirmed.
William Finch, chief executive and director at OVM, said: “We are delighted to have such an experienced group of international investors support the company in this financing round.
“This investment will allow OVM’s cancer vaccines to be progressed to important clinical milestones both to benefit patients and to return significant shareholder value.
“We have already licensed our technology into Chinese market and we are also looking forward to collaborating with Cancer ROP on the development of our vaccines in the Republic of Korea.”
Jiang, founder and chief scientific officer at OVM, said: “This series A investment will allow us to further develop ROP technology – a quick and economic way to produce vaccines and diagnostics for cancer and infectious diseases.
“We hope our effort will eventually benefit the health of many patients.”
