Syncona added two cancer companies that are on the rise to its portfolio. The biotechs now have a combined total in series A and Series B funds of over $100 million.
The London-based firm led the 80 millions euros ($85.7million) Series B financing of iOnctura. Other investors included EIC Fund, European Innovation Council’s venture arm, M Ventures and Inkef Capital. Syncona personally invested 30 million euros ($32.1m) in the company, resulting a 23% stake.
The Netherlands-based biotech has its eyes on roginolisib as it is described as the world’s first allosteric modulator for PI3Kd. The candidate has already shown long-term efficacy and safety in a phase 1b study in a rare eye tumor called uveal melanoma, the biotech stated in a release on June 20.
iOnctura will use the newly acquired cash to push roginolisib into the clinic. This will include trials of the drug for other indications, such as non-small cell pulmonary cancer and primary myelofibrosis.
In a press release, Roel Bulthuis said that “to date, no company has successfully targeted this well-known cancer path with sufficient precision.” He is also a board member at iOnctura. “By allosterically moderating PI3Kd iOnctura achieved a new degree of precision and may be the first company that develops a clinically significant medicine targeting this pathway.”
The biotech company has a second asset in the clinical stage, an autotaxin inhibitor called cambritaxestat. The drug is currently being studied in phase 1b to treat metastatic cancer of the pancreas in combination with chemotherapy.
Yellowstone is the other cancer-focused biotech company that Syncona has in its portfolio. Yellowstone is a U.K. based company that targets human leukocyte-antigen (HLA class II) expression in a variety of common cancers.
Syncona has provided series-A funds for the preclinical firm spun out of Oxford University. This will help the company build its pipeline. The biotech was founded on the work done by PareshVyas, Ph.D. a professor at the University of Oxford who developed a biobank with samples from more than 3,000 patients suffering from acute myeloid lymphoma (AML).
Yellowstone’s goal is to develop bispecific TCR-based therapeutics that target HLA class II peptides found on the surface cancer cells. The company’s lead program will initially be focused on AML. However, it also has its eye on ovarian, non-small-cell lung, colorectal, prostate, breast, renal, and melanoma cancers.