- Late preclinical-stage company OncoSenX has raised $3 million in pre-seed funding to develop therapeutics for killing cancer cells
OncoSenX — a late preclinical-stage company developing therapeutics for killing cancer cells based on their genetics — announced it raised $3 million in pre-seed funding to advance its pipeline. The investors in this round were undisclosed.
“Our preclinical studies suggest the OncoSenX approach has the potential to precisely kill cancer cells based on the mutations they harbor,” said OncoSenX CEO Matthew Scholz in a statement. “These funds will allow us to accelerate the preclinical research necessary for us to begin phase 1 clinical development,” said Matthew Scholz, chief executive officer of OncoSenX. “We believe our non-viral gene therapy for solid tumors represents the first in a new class of cancer therapeutics. The OncoSenX team is diligently working to bring this new approach into the clinic for the benefit of a global oncology community clearly in need of new options.”
What does OncoSenX do? The company is developing a highly selective tumor-killing platform with two main components including a proprietary lipid nanoparticle (LNP) for cellular delivery and a highly selective DNA payload.
The LNP is designed for delivering its non-integrating DNA payload to solid tumors while an engineered promoter drives expression of a potent, inducible death protein only in the target cell population. And the goal is to precisely target cell populations based on their genetic activity without harming nearby cells. The platform can be effectively programmed to implement logic gates (IF/OR/AND) to provide selectivity to any target cell based on its genetics.
“Our preclinical studies suggest the OncoSenX approach has the potential to precisely kill cancer cells based on the mutations they harbor,” added OncoSenX chief science officer John Lewis, Ph.D.. “If substantiated in the clinic, the platform could deliver reduced toxicity and improved tolerability over conventional chemotherapy, with the potential for superior targeting over biologics or even CAR-T therapy.”
OncoSenX is preparing for its regulatory interactions and will then perform pivotal toxicology studies in anticipation of filing to begin human trials.
