According to T3 Pharmaceuticals (T3 Pharma), the funds of more than 25 million Swiss francs will be used primarily to progress the lead candidate through early clinical studies. The clinical trial in patients with solid tumors is planned to start early next year. The first phase of this clinical study will focus on safety and tolerability of the lead candidate, and the identification of the optimal dosage.
Therapeutic candidate poised to enter clinical trial
“This significant financing round comes at a pivotal moment for our company as we leverage the full potential of our proprietary platform and enter the clinic with our lead candidate,” says Simon Ittig, co-founder and CEO of T3 Pharma. “We are grateful to our investors for their continued support” As further outlined in the company’s press release, the novel approach to deliver bioactive proteins selectively to cancerous cells using live bacteria has the potential to revolutionize treatment of solid tumors.
Using the proprietary protein delivery platform developed by T3 Pharma, the first therapeutic candidate is now being developed. The technology is built on the discovery that the bacterial type III secretion (T3S) system can be repurposed to deliver chosen proteins into eukaryotic cells. T3 Pharma’s live bacteria vehicles have been optimised to accumulate and grow selectively at solid tumors, where they produce and deliver the therapeutic protein.
T3 Pharma: a Biozentrum spin-off
T3 Pharma was founded in 2015 as a spin-off from the Biozentrum of the University of Basel. Since then, it has raised a total of 40 million Swiss francs in funding from investors. The Company was among the first to receive support from the BaseLaunch accelerator program. It has gone on to win a W.A. De Vigier Foundation Award in 2019, was named “2018 Science Start-Up of the Year” by Falling Walls Venture and came first in the Venture.ch Business Plan Competition in 2016.
Contact: Communications, T3 Pharma