Infinitopes Secures $35M to Advance AI-Powered Cancer Vaccine for Esophageal Cancer Prevention
核心洞察
Infinitopes (搜索) completed a $35.1 million seed financing round co-led by Octopus Ventures (搜索) and Amplify Bio (搜索) to advance its precision cancer (搜索) vaccine platform.
The company is launching its first-in-human Phase I/IIa VISTA trial of ITOP1, targeting esophageal cancer (搜索) recurrence prevention across multiple UK NHS centers.
ITOP1 represents an AI/ML-powered, off-the-shelf therapeutic vaccine designed to prevent cancer (搜索) recurrence after surgical resection in an area of high unmet medical need.
Oxford-based clinical-stage biotechnology company Infinitopes (搜索) has successfully closed its seed financing round at $35.1 million, securing an additional $15.4 million in funding co-led by Octopus Ventures (搜索) and new investor Amplify Bio (搜索). The investment comes as the company launches its first-in-human clinical trial of ITOP1, a precision therapeutic vaccine designed to prevent recurrence in esophageal cancer (搜索) patients.
The latest funding round included participation from new investor Macmillan Cancer Support (搜索) alongside existing investors Cancer Research Horizons (搜索) and Manta Ray Ventures (搜索). This financial milestone enables Infinitopes (搜索) to advance its AI-powered cancer (搜索) vaccine platform into human testing, addressing a significant area of unmet clinical need.
Phase I/IIa VISTA Trial Launch
The company is initiating the Phase I/IIa VISTA trial, a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study of ITOP1 across multiple UK NHS university cancer (搜索) centers. The trial aims to evaluate the company's AI/ML-precision targeted, off-the-shelf vaccine platform for preventing cancer recurrence after surgical resection.
"This new funding unlocks our potentially groundbreaking Phase I/IIa trial, enabling proof-of-concept evaluation of Infinitopes (搜索)' AI/ML-precision targeted, off-the-shelf vaccine platform to prevent recurrence after surgical resection," said Jonathan Kwok, Chief Executive Officer of Infinitopes. "We aim to lead the development of innovative medicines that bring hope to patients suffering from cancers with unmet medical needs."
The company anticipates sharing early findings from the trial at major conferences later this year, positioning itself at the cutting edge of the cancer (搜索) vaccine sector.
AI-Driven Precision Immunotherapy Platform
Infinitopes (搜索) combines two world-leading platforms in precision target discovery and high-efficiency vector delivery systems to develop immunologically durable vaccines against multiple solid tumor (搜索) indications. The company's approach utilizes rigorous AI-powered immunomics profiling combined with a highly scalable off-the-shelf vector system.
"Recent clinical evidence has made it abundantly clear that the time for cancer (搜索) vaccines is now," remarked Elliot Hershberg, Partner at Amplify Bio (搜索). "After years of searching, Infinitopes (搜索) has clearly distinguished itself as the company positioned to drive this progress forward. The combination of rigorous AI-powered immunomics profiling, a highly scalable off-the-shelf vector, and a defined clinical strategy is exactly what this field needs."
Company Development and Recognition
Since its incorporation, Infinitopes (搜索) has grown from three academic co-founders to a team of 20 full-time equivalents and has become the largest tenant of Oxford University's BioEscalator innovation accelerator. The company is supported by Cancer Research UK (CRUK) and the University of Oxford.
The biotechnology firm has received significant recognition from regulatory authorities, winning an 'Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway' (ILAP) innovation passport from the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in 2022. Additionally, Infinitopes (搜索) has secured two prestigious maximum-size non-dilutive awards from Innovate UK (搜索): a Cancer (搜索) Therapeutics Award in 2022 and a Future Economy Investor Partnership in 2023.
The ITOP1 vaccine candidate received UK MHRA Clinical Trial Application (CTA) approval, enabling the Phase I/IIa trials to begin in Q1 2026. This regulatory milestone represents a critical step forward for the company's clinical development program in addressing esophageal cancer (搜索), where clinical need remains largely unmet.