OneVentures has committed $15 million toward a targeted $25 million Series B capital raising by Newcastle-based cancer drug development company ImmVirX.
As part of the firm’s investment, OneVentures principal Dr Jeannie Joughin has joined the ImmVirX board as a non-executive director.
The rest of the capital is being sought from existing shareholders and new investors. According to ImmVirX, several existing substantial shareholders, including Acorn Capital (ASX: ACQ), intend to support the round.
Acorn Capital led ImmVirX’ $22 million Series A round in 2021. Five other institutional investors supported that round including Karst Peak Capital which had backed Viralytics, the ImmVirX team’s previous cancer drug development company. Viralytics listed on the ASX before being acquired in June 2018 by global pharma business Merck for $502 million.
Like Viralytics, ImmVirX is developing oncolytic viruses to attack cancer cells. The new capital is planned to fund the company through to 2026. This will include supporting both preclinical and clinical trials as well as manufacturing and corporate development.
In preclinical work, the company plans to use its proprietary bio-selection process to develop an additional oncolytic virus which will target late-stage lung cancer.
In April, ImmVirX announced it had dosed its first patient in its two-part Phase 1 clinical trial of its bio-selected oncolytic virus, IVX037. This first part of the trial will assess the effectiveness of IVX037 in patients with late-stage colorectal, gastric or ovarian cancer, three of the most prevalent cancer types globally. Initial indications from these trials are expected to be received during the current year.
Co-founder and chief executive of ImmVirX, Dr Malcolm McColl, said OneVentures’ commitment to lead the new fundraising was a vote of confidence in the company.
“Against the backdrop of what’s been a difficult capital market for biotechnology companies, it is testament to the work of our team thus far,” he said.
“The new funds will enable us to accelerate the development of our innovative oncolytic viral immunotherapies and bring us closer to our goal of transforming outcomes for patients with some of the most prevalent cancer types.”
Dr Joughin said OneVentures’ funding was a strategic investment from its $170 million Healthcare Fund III, which is supported by the federal government’s Biomedical Translation Fund. The investment would further diversify OneVentures’ healthcare portfolio.
She said the novel ImmVirX oncolytic immunotherapy had the potential to improve treatment responses on its own or in combination with other treatments.
“We also see this as a great opportunity to partner with ImmVirX to expand the product pipeline and treat more underserved cancer types with huge market potential,” she said.
ImmVirX is developing new cancer immunotherapy combinations that harness the power of viruses to preferentially infect and kill cancer cells and induce systemic anti-tumour immune responses. The bio-selected RNA viruses target specific receptor proteins highly expressed on a range of cancer cell types, enabling them to selectively enter, replicate in, and destroy tumour cells. The viruses should also create beneficial changes in the tumour micro-environment, potentially leading to the generation of innate and adaptive immune responses against cancer cells.
ImmVirX was founded in late 2019 following Viralytics being acquired the prior year.
Image: ImmVirX research facilities at the Hunter Medical Research Institute, Newcastle.