Major international investment in a Würzburg start-up: The company aims to develop more effective and more readily available CAR-T therapies against cancer.
T-CURX GmbH from Würzburg has received 20 million US dollars (17.7 million euros) in the first round of a financing series from an international team of investors from Europe and Asia, led by BiomedVC from Switzerland.
T-CURX intends to use the money to accelerate the development of non-viral CAR-T therapies for acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and solid tumours. At the same time, the start-up intends to further develop its proprietary technologies for the direct production of CAR-T cells in the body. The aim is to make innovative cancer therapies simpler, faster and more cost-effective so that more patients can benefit from them in future.
The biotech company is a spin-off from the University Medical Centre Würzburg of Professor Michael Hudecek, Chair of Cellular Immunotherapy at the University Hospital Würzburg (UKW) and the University of Würzburg.
One of the most effective cancer therapies
CAR-T cell therapy is considered one of the most effective cancer therapies. T cells from the patient's body are modified in such a way that they specifically recognise and fight cancer cells. The T cells can then multiply in the body and effectively attack tumours. Until now, this therapy has often only been used in the last line of treatment due to its high cost.
T-CURX GmbH, founded in Würzburg in 2017, aims to make CAR-T therapies more cost-effective and more widely accessible. It is developing non-viral CAR-T cells for the treatment of various types of cancer, including acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) and solid tumours.
Comments on the successful funding
"We intend to use the funds from the current financing round to advance our clinical trials: The leading programme is to complete the phase 1 trial and enter phase 2," summarises co-founder Michael Hudecek.
Tim J. von Oertzen, Medical Director and Chairman of the Board of the UKW: "The fact that a start-up that emerged from the University Hospital of Würzburg has reached this important milestone is a huge success. And it is proof of the quality of our innovative strength and its relevance for patient care."
"The funding of our spin-off T-CURX is a great success not only for the University of Würzburg, but for the entire innovation ecosystem in Lower Franconia. This shows once again what powerful ideas our scientists have," says Matthias Bode, Vice President for Innovation and Knowledge Transfer at the University of Würzburg.
"The funding from an international consortium of investors underlines the scientific foundation and therapeutic potential of the pipeline in AML, CLL and solid tumour indications," comments Dr Ulf Grawunder, co-founder and CEO of T-CURX.
Supported by the SFT of the University of Würzburg
The Service Centre for Research and Technology Transfer (SFT) at the University of Würzburg supported Professor Michael Hudecek and his team on their way to founding T-CURX GmbH. The SFT advised the researchers on the spin-off and supported them with funding applications.
International investors and EU funding
In addition to BiomedVC, the international team of investors also includes Bayern Kapital, HighLight Capital (HLC) and the i&i Biotech Fund. Existing and new private investors have also participated.
Through the participation of Bayern Kapital, T-CURX also gained access to funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) of the European Union (EU). The aim of this fund is to support the "STEP" objective ("Strategic Technologies for Europe"), which aims to strengthen Europe's competitiveness, technological sovereignty and resilience.
Bayern Kapital's funds have been selected as a project of strategic importance by the Bavarian ERDF programme and a total of EUR 58.3 million is available for the Bayern Kapital Innovation Fund ERDF II.
Weblinks
T-CURX https://www.t-curx.com/
JMU Research and Technology Transfer Service Centre
