Fundraising
University College London spin-out BioVex Inc has raised a total of $35 million through a venture capital round and a debt transaction.
The cancer vaccine specialist, which relocated from Oxford, UK, to the US in June 2005, will use the money to complete preparations for, and start, a phase III study of its lead product OncoVexGM-CSF for the treatment of melanoma, and to complete studies in head and neck and pancreatic cancers. It will also fund the company’s second programme, ImmunoVEXHSV2, a vaccine for genital herpes, through to Phase II.
The venture capital round, the company’s fifth, was led by Triathlon Medical Ventures which was joined by new investors New Science Ventures and Harris and Harris Group, Inc., as well as existing investors. The venture debt facility was provided by Oxford Finance Corporation and Silicon Valley Bank.
BioVex, is based in Woburn. MA, with R&D facilities in Oxford.
OncoVEXGM-CSF, is an oncolytic virus that selectively destroys tumour cells and at the same time initiates a systemic immune response against the tumour. It is currently completing a phase II clinical trial for melanoma and phase I/II trials for head & neck and pancreatic cancers. Preliminary data from these studies indicate the product has the potential to treat both local and metastatic disease.
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