PolyProx Therapeutics lines up $4.4m

PolyProx Therapeutics, a UK-based cancer therapy spinout of University of Cambridge, officially emerged yesterday with £3.4m ($4.4m) from a seed round co-led by the university’s tech transfer office, Cambridge Enterprise.
Cambridge Enterprise co-led the round with Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC), the patient capital fund affiliated to the university, and RT Capital.
Founded in November 2018, PolyProx Therapeutics hopes to commercialise a class of therapeutic molecules, dubbed polyproxin, that selectively target cancerous tumour cells by triggering degrading pathways that halt their further growth.
PolyProx’s approach centres on a protein that acts as a bridge to the tumour degradation mechanism, while being constructed as such to facilitate access to the tumour cell.
PolyProx Therapeutics expects the infusion of capital to be sufficient to fuel research operations for the next two years, enabling it to grow its headcount and validate its concept in multiple tumour subtypes.
The spinout extends research headed by its founder Laura Itzhaki, a professor of structural pharmacology and group leader in University of Cambridge’s Department of Pharmacology.
Itzhaki, who now acts as chief scientific officer of PolyProx Therapeutics, said: “Our platform, which harnesses the cell’s natural protein degradation pathways, should allow access to many hard-to-drug targets and enable screening of molecules against these targets more quickly than existing approaches.”
Sohaib Mir, principal at CIC, added: “PolyProx’s technology offers the potential to broaden the druggable proteome, thereby encompassing a range of highly-validated therapeutic targets for which there are no existing drugs.
“This exciting new company, underpinned by world-class science and deep intellectual property, is characteristic of businesses emanating from the Cambridge ecosystem.
“We look forward to working with PolyProx’s experienced team as the company advances.”