WARF joins $8m Madison round

Life sciences firm Madison Vaccines has raised $8m in series A to further develop therapies focused on prostate cancer.

The round was led by venture firm Venture Investors, and joined by Venture Management and the State of Wisconsin Investment Board. The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) also joined the round, which also licensed the technologies to Madison – originally developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The funding will be used to support the clinical trials of Madison’s primary technology MVI-816 – a DNA vaccine which is used to genetically induce an immune response to prostate cancer. Currently, patients with recurrent cancer can either monitor Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) levels in their blood with the hope it doesn’t rise, or face chemical castration and a significant decline in the quality of life they experience. Madison offers a third route to take action against prostate cancer reoccurrence without castration.

Richard Lesniewski, president of Madison Vaccines, said: “Our goal in developing MVI-816 is to significantly delay both the onset of metastases and the initiation of ADT for these patients. This $8 million financing will allow MVI to advance our efforts to establish a safe and approvable immune activation therapy for men with early malignant prostate cancer.”