Oxford biotech raises £5 million to progress cancer therapy to clinical trials

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Nicky Godding

Theolytics, the Oxford-based biotech harnessing viruses to combat cancer, has raised £5 million in a Series A funding round. The round was co-led by Edinburgh-based Epidarex Capital and California-based Taiho Ventures LLC with participation from existing investor, Oxford Sciences Innovation (OSI). The financing will be used to progress the company’s pipeline of candidates towards human clinical trials.

Theolytics is focused on creating a step-change in the oncolytic viral therapy field. Oncolytic viruses are a form of immunotherapy that uses viruses to infect and destroy cancer cells.

Charlotte Casebourne, CEO of Theolytics said: “Theolytics’ platform technology enables a fundamental shift in what is possible; combining the power of bioselection with a patient-centric approach to drug discovery, we are able to address many of the challenges that have prevented the field from delivering on its full potential.

"Our team are committed to discovering and developing candidates for some of the most challenging cancers, and I’m delighted that Epidarex and Taiho Ventures have chosen to support us on our journey.”

Henning Steinhagen, Venture Partner at Epidarex Capital said: “The oncolytic viral therapy field continues to gain momentum and Theolytics caught our eye with their highly promising indication-specific bioselection platform. Theolytics combines multiple key features we are looking for when investing: world class science, highly driven innovators, and a disruptive technology that has the potential to generate a strong pipeline of proprietary and significantly more efficacious therapeutics. We look forward to supporting Theolytics in leveraging its innovative platform to establish a pipeline of patient-centric next-generation oncolytic viruses, which promises to dramatically improve the treatment of cancer.”

Sakae Asanuma, President at Taiho Ventures, LLC, the corporate venture arm of Taiho Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., said: “Taiho is delighted to co-lead this Series A financing and work with Theolytics to deliver the innovative oncolytic virotherapy generated by their unique proprietary platform technology, which should provide cancer patients with the promise of dramatically improving clinical outcomes.”

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.