Tioma Therapeutics, an oncology treatment spinout of Washington University in St Louis, has secured funding from backers including Novo, GlaxoSmithKline and Roche.

US-based cancer treatment startup Tioma Therapeutics has raised $86m in a series A round featuring corporate venturing subsidiaries of pharmaceutical companies Novo, Roche and GlaxoSmithKline.

Novo Ventures, Roche Venture Fund and SR One co-led the round with venture capital firm RiverVest Venture Partners. Tioma began raising the series A funding in June 2015, according to a regulatory filing.

Founded as Vasculox, Tioma is developing antibodies to treat solid and hematologic cancers, and will use the money to advance its lead product candidate, an immune checkpoint inhibitor that targets the CD47 protein, through advanced proof-of-concept clinical trials for humans.

John McKearn, managing director of RiverVest Venture Partners, is chairman of Tioma’s board of directors, while Novo Ventures senior partner Peter Moldt, SR One principal Jill Carroll and Carole Nuechterlein, head of Roche Venture Fund, have taken board seats.

Tioma disclosed the round together with news that John Donovan, co-founder and formerly chief business officer and chief financial officer of viral disease developer Alios BioPharma, has been appointed its president and CEO. Alios was acquired by Johnson & Johnson for $1.75bn in 2014.

William Frazier, the Washington University in St Louis professor who founded the company, remains as a scientific founder and adviser.

Tioma operates out of the BioGenerator Labs in the Cortex innovation district, Eric Gulve, president of BioGenerator, said: “This financing is a testament to the increasing value of new companies emerging from Washington University and the St. Louis region.”

Moldt said: “We find CD47 to be an extremely interesting target in the evolving cancer immunotherapy landscape.

“We believe Tioma Therapeutics, with its portfolio of diverse, functionally heterogeneous antibodies, is well positioned to test the CD47 hypothesis in the clinic.”

The series A funding comes in the wake of $1.3m from undisclosed investors in February 2015, according to a securities filing.

– This article first appeared in our sister publication Global Corporate Venturing.