Date: 2014-04-10
Type of information: Series B financing round
Company: Nucana (UK)
Investors: Sofinnova Venture (USA) - Sofinnova Partners (France) - Morningside Ventures (China - USA) - Alida Capital International (UK) - Scottish Investment Bank (UK)
Amount: $ 57 million (€41 million)
Funding type: series B financing round
Planned used: The funds will be used to expand acelarin (NUC-1031) clinical programme. Nucana\'s lead product is a ProTide transformation and enhancement of gemcitabine.The ProTide technology enables the addition of a phosphoramidate moiety to the commonly used anti-cancer nucleoside analogues. This results in significantly more active agent by delivering an activated form of the agent into the tumour cells and overcoming the key cancer resistance mechanisms associated with gemcitabine. In vitro testing proved Acelarin far superior to gemcitabine, showing exceptional activity against a range of different cancer models. Acelarin further demonstrated advantageous anti-cancer activity in vivo on a range of tumour xenografts. In extensive toxicity and toxicokinetic studies, Acelarin was administered at levels equivalent to four times the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of gemcitabine. Building on the positive results of the Phase I clinical study (ProGem1), NuCana plans to establish the recommended Acelarin therapeutic dose and start the Phase II/III development programme in early 2014. Several additional ProTide families of commonly prescribed nucleoside analogues for cancer treatment are also being developed by NuCana, such as NUC-3373. Nucana plans to bring this product into the clinic later in 2014, with two futher ProTides scheduled for 2015.
Others: Following the completion of this financing, James Healy and Gerald Chan, co-founder and chairman of Morningside Ventures will join the board of directors.
Therapeutic area: Cancer - Oncology
