RCSI spin-out company raises $1.7m to expand cancer-treating drug system

Pictured (l-r, front row) Dr Ian Nicoud, Libertatis Ergo Holding; Dr Aoife Gallagher, Head of Innovation, RCSI; Professor Helena Kelly, OncoLize co-founder and CSO, School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences, RCSI; Mike de Leeuw, OncoLize founder and CEO; (back row) Dr Luuk Hawinkels, Leiden University Medical Centre; Dr Leo de Leede, OncoLize co-founder; Professor Fergal O’ Brien, Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation, RCSI; and Rob Mayfield, Libertatis Ergo Holding.

A spin-out company developed by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland has closed a $1.7m (€1.54m) seed investment round to extend their preclinical success with a local drug delivery system to treat pancreatic and lung cancer.

The company holds a worldwide, exclusive license for the OncoLize technology platform invented by Professor Helena Kelly at the School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences.

The round was led by corner-stone investors, Libertatis Ergo Holding and Tailored Solutions and was joined by three high-net-worth impact investors.

Using unique liquid formulations, the OncoLize technology delivers a range of anti-cancer drugs for conventional chemotherapy as well as modern immuno-drugs.

Injected directly into a solid tumour, the liquid formulation thickens within seconds to form a soft gel, releasing the loaded drugs safely at higher concentrations and over a longer period than with the conventional delivery routes of chemo or immunotherapy.

This localised method of delivery reduces the total drug load required and it is expected to diminish the many side effects associated with conventional delivery of chemo and immuno-therapies.

The company is using the proceeds of the investment to expand their pre-clinical studies and prepare for the First-in-Human pancreatic tumour studies.

OncoLize was founded by serial entrepreneur Mike G.W. de Leeuw, together with Industry veterans Dr Leo de Leede and Professor Helena Kelly with the support of the Innovation Team in the RCSI Office of Research and Innovation.

OncoLize will set up its laboratories at the Leiden Bio Science Park in the Netherlands and prepare for Phase 1/2 trials in border-line resectable PDAC pancreatic cancer in 2024, with the company planning to expand into other tumour indications in the future.