Vect-Horus, a Marseille, France-based biotechnology company that designs and develops vectors that facilitate the targeted delivery of therapeutic molecules and imaging agents, raised €6.7m in funding.
Backers included historic shareholders and new entrants.
Led by Alexandre Tokay, Chairman, Vect-Horus designs and develops vectors that facilitate targeting and delivery of therapeutic or imaging agents to organs, including the brain and tumours. The company combines these different agents to its vectors that specifically target various receptors, allowing these agents to cross natural barriers (first and foremost the blood-brain-barrier) which limit access of therapeutic or imaging agents to their targets. The proof of concept of the technology has already been established in animal models using different vectorized molecules. Created in 2005, Vect-Horus is a spin-off of the Institute for Neurophysiopathology (INP, UMR7051, CNRS and Aix Marseille University), headed by Dr Michel Khrestchatisky, co-founder.
The company intends to use the funds to develop its programs and the upcoming clinical trial of its first therapeutic and diagnostic agent. The proceeds of this new round of financing will enable the company to increase its R&D investments in order to optimize its VECTrans® technology and, more specifically, to identify new vectors that will expand its portfolio. It will also enable the development of new conjugates associating the company’s vectors with therapeutic biomolecules: antibodies, mRNAs and various antisense oligonucleotides, including siRNAs. Therefore, the vectorization potential of the VECTrans® platform will be enriched in order to achieve its targeted therapy objectives in multiple organs and indications.
With its co-development partner RadioMedix (a company based in Houston USA and specialized in nuclear medicine), Vect-Horus is preparing the pre-IND dossier of its theragnostic agent for clinic trials in 2021 for the diagnosis of glioblastoma. Finally, several collaboration agreements have been signed or are currently under negotiation with various pharmaceutical partners. The company aims to balance its R&D programs with an increasing flow of revenues from these industrial partnerships.
FinSMEs
08/09/2020