NK:IO raises £1.2m for NK cell therapy

NK:IO has raised £1.2 million, bringing its total equity financing to £3.2 million.

The investment will be used to drive NK:IO’s cell therapy candidates through full pre-clinical testing.

This includes development of a manufacturing process in collaboration with the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, whose mission is to support the UK’s cell and gene therapy industry.

The £3.2 million equity funding is in addition to the recent Innovate UK New Cancer Therapeutics award of £1.6 million and a previous Innovate UK Accelerator grant of £300,000.

The current investment round was led by Cancer Research Horizons and included the Imperial College Enterprise Fund, Start Codon, UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund and Meltwind.

Mike Romanos, Co-Founder and Interim CEO, said: “We are very excited by the potential of NK:IO’s platform to address unmet needs in cancer cell therapy, including solid tumours, and to revolutionise the field.

“We are delighted by the support of our investors, including Cancer Research Horizons, who have joined to lead the round.

“Our recent success in securing non-dilutive funding under Innovate UK’s ‘New Cancer Therapeutics’ program further endorses this vision.”

NK:IO’s platform activates blood stem cell progenitors to yield industry-leading NK cell tumour-killing potency and very high yield cell production, which it believes will be transformative in cancer cell therapy.

The platform also enables efficient engineering of progenitor cells to enable the production of next-generation NK cells for further increases in potency or tumour targeting, which NK:IO is progressing for certain hard-to-treat tumour subtypes.

Tony Hickson, Chief Business Officer at Cancer Research UK and Cancer Research Horizons, commented: “Cancer Research Horizons believes that NK:IO’s technology, based on pioneering research from Imperial College, has transformational potential for cancer patients.

“We are delighted to support the company’s progression and excited to work with the team as they progress to the clinic.”