ErVimmune Raises €17 Million to Advance Off-the-Shelf Cancer Vaccine Targeting Human Endogenous Retroviruses
核心洞察
French biotech ErVimmune (搜索) secured €17 million in Series A funding to advance ErVac01 (搜索), an innovative cancer vaccine targeting human endogenous retroviruses (搜索) (HERVs (搜索)) for "cold" tumors like triple-negative breast cancer (搜索) and ovarian cancer (搜索).
ErVac01 (搜索) is designed as an off-the-shelf vaccine with global population coverage, providing >95% HLA allele coverage in Europe and >80% in Asia, eliminating the need for personalized therapy manufacturing.
The company plans to initiate first-in-human clinical trials in the first half of 2027, positioning itself as a pioneer in the emerging field of HERV-targeted cancer immunotherapy.
French biotechnology company ErVimmune (搜索) has raised €17 million ($19.8 million) in the first closing of its Series A financing round to advance its lead cancer vaccine candidate ErVac01 (搜索) into clinical development. The Lyon-based company is pioneering a novel approach to cancer immunotherapy by targeting human endogenous retroviruses (搜索) (HERVs (搜索)), ancient viral DNA sequences embedded in the human genome that become reactivated in cancer cells.
The international investor syndicate included existing shareholder Seventure Partners (搜索) from Paris and new investor SPRIM Global Investments (搜索) from Singapore. The funding will also enable ErVimmune (搜索) to leverage additional non-dilutive funding from Bpifrance and the France 2030 program.
Targeting "Cold" Tumors with HERV-Based Vaccines
ErVac01 (搜索) represents a heterologous vaccine formulation containing a collection of HERV-derived epitopes specifically designed to target "cold" tumors such as triple-negative breast cancer (搜索) and ovarian cancer (搜索), which currently respond poorly to checkpoint inhibitors. Under normal conditions, HERVs (搜索) are epigenetically silenced, but cellular stress from high proliferative pressure in cancer cells can lead to their reactivation and expression.
"Our approach has the potential to transform treatment options for patients with difficult-to-treat cancers," said Prof. Stéphane Depil, MD, PhD, founder and board member at ErVimmune (搜索).
The immune system recognizes HERV-derived antigens as foreign, "virus-like" proteins, offering promising targets for novel cancer vaccines. HERVs (搜索) provide a rich source of targetable antigens, particularly in tumors with low or moderate mutational burden.
Global Population Coverage with Off-the-Shelf Design
A key differentiator of ErVac01 (搜索) is its design as an off-the-shelf, ready-to-use vaccine that works independently of the specific HERVs (搜索) expressed in each patient. The vaccine formulation is engineered to cover the majority of the worldwide population in terms of HLA alleles, with coverage exceeding 80% in Asia and 95% in Europe.
According to CEO Nathalie Donne, analyses using the Immune Epitope Database (IEDB) resource show that ErVac01 (搜索) provides coverage of >95% in Europe, >80% in Asia, >88% in North America, >71% in South America, and 50-60% in Africa. By selecting antigens that are shared across patients and tumors, the resulting vaccine can be manufactured as a ready-to-use product rather than requiring personalized therapy.
Clinical Development Timeline and Strategic Leadership
The €17 million funding will support the execution of a first-in-human clinical trial, with ErVimmune (搜索) planning to initiate the study in Europe during the first half of 2027. "This financial backing enables us to accelerate the development of our lead vaccine candidate ErVac01 (搜索)," said Donne. "We are excited to move forward into our first-in-human clinical phase and to build the foundations for a broader therapeutic platform."
Concurrent with the financing, ErVimmune (搜索) announced the appointment of Eric Halioua as executive chairman of its board of directors. Halioua brings extensive experience as a biotech entrepreneur and executive, having founded four biotechnology companies and served as former president and CEO of PDC*line Pharma, a clinical-stage company developing therapeutic cancer vaccines. He has raised more than €170 million from leading venture capital firms across Europe, the United States, Japan, and Korea.
Pioneering Position in Emerging Field
ErVimmune (搜索) is positioning itself at the forefront of HERV-targeted therapeutics, a field still in its early stages. California-based T-Cure Bioscience (搜索) is investigating a T-cell receptor (TCR)-based cell therapy targeting a HERV-derived antigen in a phase 1 clinical trial in renal cell carcinoma (搜索), while Denmark and New York-based HERVolution Therapeutics (搜索) is developing HERV-targeted therapies for aging-related diseases.
"We are delighted to continue supporting ErVimmune (搜索) as it enters this critical clinical phase," said Isabelle de Crémoux, CEO and managing partner at Seventure Partners (搜索). "The company is opening a new frontier in cancer immunotherapy."
The company's development plan has prioritized cold tumors to establish proof-of-concept in high medical need indications, with plans to later evaluate the vaccine in other cancers such as lung adenocarcinoma (搜索) or melanoma (搜索). ErVimmune (搜索) also has a T cell-based therapy program in the discovery stage through academic collaboration to optimize T cell engineering.
The Series A round remains open to additional investors and will further enable advancement of ErVac01 (搜索) in triple-negative breast cancer (搜索) and ovarian cancer (搜索), as well as development of future therapeutic candidates targeting new HERV-derived antigens in additional oncology indications.