Biotech

BioCopy raises €8M to cut cancer drug development from years to months

The company aims to produce more effective cancer drugs in the shortest possible time and at significantly lower costs.

The German-Swiss biotech BioCopy has secured €8 million in funding.

BioCopy focuses on the discovery and development of biotherapeutic drugs using an automated, AI-assisted end-to-end platform and is developing next-generation biotherapeutic drug candidates.

It aims to save valuable time for patients and partners in the pharmaceutical industry by reducing R&D time for cancer drugs from three years to 12 months, thereby significantly lowering development costs. The focus is on developing biotherapeutics against lung, bladder, and ovarian cancers.

With its own development platform, instead of testing 10-100 drug candidates in an iterative semi-manual process, a total of 25,000 candidates can be tested in parallel in an automated process.

This innovative approach is expected to significantly shorten the development cycles of such drugs and thus significantly reduce costs. Where currently, around 500 employees are needed for the development of next-generation biotherapeutics, fewer than 10 employees will be required for the same process in the future.

"By 2040, according to the World Health Organization, every second person will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their life," explains BioCopy CEO Matthias Wiedenfels.

"With our patented solution in precision screening of cancer targets, i.e., specific target structures on cancer cells for drugs, and our expertise in AI-assisted antibody optimisation, we can produce highly complex drugs faster and in significantly larger quantities. This will save valuable time in the fight against cancer."

Supported by a group of experienced family offices and renowned entrepreneurs, the funding will help initiate the establishment of BioCopy’s automated ultra-high-throughput lab.

"The development of such drug candidates takes many years or even decades in conventional processes," adds Jörg Birkenfeld, Chief Science Officer of BioCopy.

"Unlike previous workflows in the pharmaceutical industry, we can ensure a much higher throughput with our approaches at BioCopy. With the previous funding and upcoming investments, we will further expand this competitive advantage and advance the global fight against cancer."

Lead image: Freepix.