iOnctura BV, a clinical-stage biotech focused on the development of novel cancer therapies, has been awarded €17.5m of funding from the European Investment Council’s (EIC) Accelerator programme to develop its novel pancreatic cancer therapy, IOA-289.
The maximum allowed funding was given to the company in appreciation of the potential of IOA-289, a highly-selective, first-in-class autotaxin inhibitor currently being assessed in a phase 1b study as a first-line treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer.
Earlier this month, the company announced that it had dosed the first patient in the phase 1b AION-02 dose-escalation study of IOA-289 in combination with standard of care gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel chemotherapy.
Pancreatic cancer is the only cancer with mortality on the rise in both sexes and is currently the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the US and the fourth in Europe.
Fibrotic cancers, including pancreatic cancer, are characterised by the deposition of thick layers of extracellular matrix containing collagen fibres and pro-tumorigenic factors, creating a microenvironment that impedes the entry of immune cells and drugs, making the tumours difficult to treat.
The company said in a statement that the EIC judging panel recognised the candidates ‘unique ability’ to simultaneously target independent tumour survival pathways associated with tumour proliferation, fibrosis and immune suppression.
“There’s an urgent need to develop new therapies for pancreatic cancer and preclinical data demonstrate that IOA-289 offers a new approach, through a multi-pronged mechanism that addresses three hallmarks of cancer: fibrosis, immune suppression and tumour cell proliferation,” said Catherine Pickering, chief executive officer of iOnctura.
David Brindley, professor of biochemistry, University of Alberta, and member of iOnctura’s clinical advisory board, said at the time of the first dose announcement: “We hypothesise that the lead-in of IOA-289 will reduce the expression of collagen and other pro-tumourigenic secreted factors rendering the tumour microenvironment susceptible to chemotherapy and unveiling the tumour to the immune system.”
The funding awarded to the company, which consists of a €2.5m grant and €15m of equity investment, comes as part of the most recent wave to accelerate deep tech start-ups through grants and equity investments.
For this second series of grants, the European Commission selected 78 innovative start-ups for funding, which will together receive up to €470m of funding in a combination of grants and equity investments.