ErVimmune has announced a first closing of a €17m Series A to develop cancer vaccines for ‘cold tumours’ that often fail to respond to immunotherapies.
The Lyon-based biotech is developing therapeutic vaccines and cell therapies for cold tumours, a term used for cancers that tend to evade immune-based treatments.
The funding will support clinical development of ErVac01, the company’s lead candidate, described as a heterologous vaccine formulation containing a collection of HERV-derived epitopes, small protein fragments the immune system can recognise.
HERVs, or human endogenous retroviruses, are viral genetic sequences that have become part of human DNA over millions of years.
Professor Stéphane Depil, founder and board member, said: “This funding marks a critical milestone in bringing our off-the-shelf cancer vaccine to the clinic.
“Our approach has the potential to transform treatment options for patients with difficult-to-treat cancers.”
ErVimmune’s vaccines target protein fragments from these sequences that tumours express, which the immune system can recognise as foreign.
The vaccine is designed to cover the majority of the worldwide population in terms of HLA alleles, the genetic variations that shape immune response, with coverage of more than 80 per cent in Asia and more than 95 per cent in Europe.
By selecting antigens that are shared across patients and tumours, the vaccine can be manufactured as a ready-to-use product rather than a personalised therapy.
The approach is aimed at cold tumours such as triple-negative breast cancer or ovarian cancer, which currently respond poorly to checkpoint inhibitors, a class of immunotherapy drugs that help the immune system recognise and attack cancer.
Triple-negative breast cancer accounts for about 15 per cent of breast cancer cases worldwide and is known for being aggressive. Ovarian cancer is described as the deadliest cancer among women globally.
The funding will support a first-in-human clinical trial, described as a pivotal step towards establishing the safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine, meaning its ability to trigger an immune response.
Founded in 2019, ErVimmune is a spin-off from the Centre Léon Bérard and specialises in developing therapeutic vaccines targeting unconventional tumour antigens derived from HERVs.
This financing will also enable the company to leverage additional non-dilutive funding from Bpifrance and the France 2030 programme.
Existing shareholder Seventure Partners participated in the round, alongside new investor SPRIM Global Investments of Singapore.
Isabelle de Crémoux, chief executive and managing partner at Seventure Partners, said: “We are delighted to continue supporting ErVimmune as it enters this critical clinical phase.
“The company is opening a new frontier in cancer immunotherapy. Advancing ErVac01 into the clinic is a decisive step towards translating this innovative vaccine platform into tangible benefits for patients.”
Michael Shleifer, founding partner at SPRIM Global Investments, added: “We are eager to support ErVimmune’s lead programme, ErVac01, as it enters its first clinical study.
“This financing marks an inflection point in validating ErVimmune’s proprietary antigen discovery platform, heralding a new era of shared, off-the-shelf cancer immunotherapies.
“A successful outcome will enable the generation of successive waves of proprietary therapeutic candidates targeting untapped HERV antigens across multiple oncology indications.”
