The funding enables Nouscom to continue advancing the clinical development of its portfolio of neoantigen cancer vaccines to key clinical proof of concept endpoints. Despite the challenging environment, Nouscom was able to attract a a syndicate of renowned international healthcare investors.
Nouscom, a Basel-based clinical stage immuno-oncology company developing off-the-shelf and personalized viral vector-based cancer vaccines targeting neoantigens, completed its Series C equity financing raising €67.5 million (CHF65 million) from a syndicate of renowned international healthcare investors. New specialist European and US life sciences investors joined existing investors: The Series C round was co-led by Andera Partners, Bpifrance (through its InnoBio 2 fund) and M Ventures, with participation from Revelation Partners, Indaco Venture Partners, Panakès Partners, XGen Venture, and other undisclosed investors together with continued support from existing investors 5AM Ventures, EQT Life Sciences and Versant Ventures. Concurrent with the financing, representatives from Andera Partners, Bpifrance and M Ventures have joined the Nouscom Board of Directors.
The proceeds will be used to continue advancing and expanding Nouscom’s wholly owned clinical pipeline to achieve multiple clinical value catalysts, including:
- Readout from Nouscom’s ongoing randomized Phase 2 clinical trial for NOUS-209, an off-the-shelf vaccine targeting 209 shared neoantigens, in combination with pembrolizumab for the treatment of Mismatch Repair/Microsatellite Instable (dMMR/MSI) Metastatic Colorectal Cancer (mCRC).
- Final readout from the ongoing Phase 1b study and advancement of NOUS-209 monotherapy in Lynch Syndrome (LS) carriers investigating the potential to intercept, prevent or delay cancer before it occurs. LS carriers have a genetic predisposition to and consequently higher risk of developing certain cancers. Promising initial results from this study were reported in a Late-breaking Abstract at the recent Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) 2023 Annual Meeting.
- Completion of a Phase 1b study evaluating NOUS-PEV, a personalized cancer immunotherapy, in combination with a checkpoint inhibitor in patients with advanced melanoma and entry into randomized Phase 2 trials in indications with high unmet medical needs.
Dr. Marina Udier, Chief Executive Officer of Nouscom, said: “This oversubscribed financing, in what is a challenging environment for all biotech companies, is testament to the faith that new and existing investors place in Nouscom and our best-in-class technology. I am constantly inspired by the relentless drive our team exhibits on a daily basis to advancing our innovative medicines for the benefit of cancer patients. This financing will allow us to further accelerate development across our wholly owned clinical portfolio reporting multiple clinical trial readouts including from our ongoing randomized Phase 2 clinical trial with NOUS-209. These Phase 2 data, if positive, have the potential to position Nouscom’s neoantigen based cancer vaccines amongst the most thrilling developments in the field.”
Dr. Sofia Ioannidou, Partner of Andera Partners, said: “We at Andera are delighted to support Marina and her team in their mission to advance the development of their innovative cancer treatments for patients. We believe that the robustness of the clinical results generated so far positions Nouscom as one of the leading biotech companies in the vibrant neoantigen cancer vaccine space. We look forward to supporting the company towards the further clinical validation of its platform.”
(Press release / SK)
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