Xerion Healthcare, an oncology spinout of University of Oxford’s Department of Engineering Science, has secured an undisclosed amount of funding from University of Oxford Isis Fund II.
Xerion aims to bring to market technology that uses nanoparticles for cancer therapy. Their tiny size enables chemotherapy drugs to be delivered directly to the tumour, reducing the harm done to the rest of the body. The nanoparticles can also be used to increase the efficiency of radiotherapy.
The technology is based on work by Helen Townley, a research fellow of both the Nuffield Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and the Department of Engineering Science. She first began developing the technology in 2007.
Townley has co-founded Xerion with Gareth Wakefield, who previously helped spin out two other nanoparticle technology companies, Oxonica and Oxford Advanced Surfaces.
The spinout will use the funding for further trials in mice, following a completed first study conducted with the assistance of the University of Stanford.