Advancing cancer treatments, medtech startup Epitopea raises £10.3 million

Cambridge-based Epitopea has raised £10.3 million in a seed funding round. The medtech startup is developing off-the-shelf cancer immunotherapies designed to treat a broad patient population. The influx of capital will be used to further advance the company’s research and development programmes as well as augment the executive team.

Building upon research exclusively lived from the Université de Montréal, Eptiopea is taking on cancer by focusing on tumor-specific antigens (TSAs), molecules found across a wide variety of cancer types, and using them to provide tumour-specific targets for immunotherapy treatment. In doing so, the treatments can specifically kill malignant cells, while healthy, non-cancerous cells are left unharmed.

"The outstanding work of Epitopea's co-founders, Université de Montréal scientists Drs. Claude Perreault, and Pierre Thibault, has opened a tremendous and potentially transformative opportunity for future cancer patients,” commented Epitopea CEO Dr. Jon Moore. 

Epitopea’s £10.3 million seed funding round was provided by a transatlantic syndicate including Advent Life Sciences, CTI Life Sciences, Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC), and Fonds de solidarité FTQ. Novateur Ventures and the Harrington Discovery Institute/University Health Holdings also participated in the round.

“We are convinced that Epitopea has the potential to fundamentally change the paradigm of how cancer patients can be treated with therapeutics vaccines and other immunotherapies to significantly improve their quality of life,” said CTI Life Sciences’ Dr. Laurence Rulleau.