Anaveon, a Basel-based immuno-oncology biotech, has successfully concluded a Series A financing round led by Syncona, a UK Life Sciences fund, and joined by the Novartis Venture Fund. The company was founded with financing from BaseLaunch, the healthcare accelerator of BaselArea.swiss in December 2017 and in 2018 also raised additional seed money from the UZH Life Sciences Fund.
Anaveon is developing a selective interleukin-2 receptor (IL-2 receptor) agonist to fuel a patient’s immune system to respond to tumors. The naturally occurring IL-2 receptor stimulates a type of immune cell called a T-cell to attack tumors. Il-2 is already being used for the treatment of cancer. However, there are side effects and dose limiting toxicities associated with IL-2 therapy. Anaveon`s approach plans to overcome these challenges and the proceeds of the Series A financing will now enable further development of its lead compound, as announced in a press release.
Anaveon was founded by Onur Boyman, Professor and Chair in the Department of Immunology at the University of Zurich (UZH), and Andreas Katopodis. Prior to this, Andreas Katopodis was Director of Autoimmunity, Transplantation and Inflammatory Disease at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research.
Here you can find the full press release published by Syncona.
See also about Anaveon
BaseLaunch backed Anaveon received funding – click here
BaseLaunch up to a solid Phase II start – click here
If that sounds like a path for you why not apply now to BaseLaunch!
