Valo Therapeutics receives $4.6 million non-dilutive funding from Tekes, in order to accelerate development of a novel oncolytic virus-based cancer immunotherapy
Helsinki, Finland, July 4, 2017.
The Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation, Tekes, has granted Valo Therapeutics a $4.6 million non-dilutive loan for the preparation of a Phase I trial of a novel oncolytic virus-based cancer immunotherapy called PeptiCRAd. Valo Therapeutics has now raised $8 million (including $3.4m seed capital in January 2017) towards its mission to provide cancer patients with less toxic and longer lasting therapeutic options.
Valo Therapeutics aims at combining the PeptiCRAd technology with check point inhibitors in the Phase I clinical study. “PeptiCRAd is designed to induce a strong tumor-specific immune response. We believe that the combination with checkpoint inhibitors has a great potential to become an efficacious treatment for patients with an unmet medical need” says Sari Pesonen, VP Scientific and Clinical Development.
“Tekes has consistently supported successful innovations out of the University of Helsinki (UH) and this funding enables Valo Tx to accelerate preparation of their clinical trial program across three indications,” says UH board representative and COO of Helsinki Innovation Services Ltd., Milla Koistinaho. “The objective is to recruit the first patient during 2018 to demonstrate the clinical potential of the PeptiCRAd technology.”
About Valo Therapeutics and PeptiCRAd:
Valo Therapeutics (ValoTx) is a spin-out company from the University of Helsinki, Finland. It is a developer of a novel cancer immunotherapy platform, PeptiCRAd, that is projected to transform the lives of millions of cancer patients.
PeptiCRAd (Peptide-coated Conditionally Replicating Adenovirus) is an innovative way of combining the best features of two clinically proven cancer immunotherapy approaches, an oncolytic adenovirus and a peptide vaccine. The straightforward idea is to use immunogenic viruses as active carriers of tumor-specific peptides to direct the immune system to specifically target and kill cancer cells.
About Helsinki Innovation Services:
Helsinki Innovation Services (HIS) Ltd is a commercialization and technology transfer company fully owned by the University of Helsinki. Our aim is to help bring research ideas developed at the University of Helsinki into the corporate world by exploring and assessing the commercial potential of research results, protecting the intellectual property and by transforming them into successful business activities and spin out companies.
Contact information:
Valo Tx:
Antti Vuolanto, COO