A drugmaker spun out of Imperial College and the Crick Institute has secured one of Europe’s largest-ever early stage fundraising for a biotech,with £90 million backing for its pioneering cancer treatment.
Myricx Bio is working on drugs designed to destroy cancer cells - initially in breast and gastric tumours - with ‘precision oncology’.
Its research has created a proprietary antibody ‘payload’ system that targets cancer drugs to the exact site of the tumour, with a warhead chemical that attacks it. The precision of the former allows for a much-lower dose of toxic drugs.
The cornerstone of Kings Cross-headquartered Myricx’s work is an inhibitor to N-myristoyltransferase (NMT) - an enzyme that is key for cancer cells’ survival.
It is this work - and the promising prospects of a range of new cancer treatments as a result - which has attracted an international mix of major science investors, including the backer of Denmark’s Ozempic maker, Novo Holdings, UK-US life science investor Abingworth, British Patient Capital, Cancer Research Horizons and pharma giant Eli Lilly alongside VCs Brandon Capital, of Australia and London, and France’s Sofinnova.
Myricx was founded by Professor Ed Tate, from Imperial’s Chemistry department and the Francis Crick Institute, Dr Roberto Solari, from Imperial’s National Heart and Lung Institute and Dr Andrew Bell, an Imperial chemistry academic, in 2019. It will use its £90 million cash injection - thought to be the second-largest amount that a biotech has received in Europe - to put down roots with its own labs and in-house researchers, plus an expanded management team.
Although its research will initially focus on treating solid tumours, such as breast and gastric cancers, it potentially can apply across all cancers. The Series A funding is expected to last Myricx through to 2028, with human clinical trials launching as soon as next year.
Unlike other biotechs who have swerved away from the Capital in the aftermath of Brexit, Myricx said it was “committed to significant growth and executive presence in London.”
Chief executive Robin Carr said: “Myricx now has the resources to grow into a fully-fledged R&D company… we are well positioned to advance our pipeline as we become a clinical stage company.”
