Flindr Therapeutics, an Oss, the Netherlands-based precision oncology therapeutics company, raised €20M in Series A funding.
The round was led by V-Bio Ventures, with participation from JJDC, Inc. (JJDC), QBIC Fund, Flanders Future Tech Fund and Curie Capital, as well as existing investors Oncode Oncology Bridge Fund, Swanbridge and Brabantse Ontwikkelings Maatschappij (BOM).
Led by CEO Maarten Ligtenberg, Flindr Therapeutics is a pre-clinical biotech company developing precision oncology treatments. It is actively building a pipeline of precision oncology therapies identified through the ImmunoGram Drug Discovery Engine, which has evolved from seminal work in the laboratories of the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI) and the Oncode Institute. This approach involves reverse-translating the heterogeneity in tumor-specific and host-specific factors, as commonly seen in patients in the clinic, into lab-based biological models to screen for and select the most important drug targets involved in patient clinical response.
Flindr’s lead program is a first-in-class small molecule inhibitor of RNF31 (also known as HOIP), a protein-stabilizing E3 ubiquitin ligase which is aberrantly activated in solid and hematological malignancies. The company has already obtained highly promising activity for the drug candidate in preclinical ovarian cancer and B-cell lymphoma models, and identified biomarkers which will help select patients most likely to respond to treatment with RNF31 inhibitors.
The company intends to use the funds to progress its lead program to IND, develop an exciting second program, and broaden its pipeline using the ImmunoGram Drug Discovery Engine.
Previously called Immagene, the company was spun out of the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI) and Oncode Institute in 2020, by founders Prof Daniel Peeper, Prof Christian Blank and Dr Maarten Ligtenberg.
Commenting on the news, Maarten Ligtenberg said: “This €20 million Series A financing will help us translate our precision targets into precision therapies, with the ultimate goal of potentially transforming the lives of patients with cancer. The backing of this highly regarded investor syndicate is a strong validation of our unique approach and the potential of our pipeline.”
FinSMEs
24/04/2024