TOLREMO raises CHF9 million series A financing round

 

TOLREMO therapeutics AG completed an oversubscribed series A financing round of CHF9.0 million. The capital increase will allow the ETH Spin-off to further advance two major drug development programs to prevent drug resistance in cancer therapies.

 

The Swiss venture capital firm BioMedPartners led the round and was joined by the Swiss venture capital firms Redalpine and Altos Venture, as well as TOLREMO’s existing shareholders including Zürcher Kantonalbank and several experienced biotech investors.  The capital increase follows a successful fundraising of CHF 2.4 million one year ago, which was used to validate the company’s proprietary drug resistance screening platform, license additional IP, initiate a second R&D program, and identify first resistance-breaking lead compounds.

TOLREMO also announced the strengthening of its Board of Directors by Dr. Erich Greiner, an advisor to several public and private funds in the US and Europe and CEO/founder of Cedrus Therapeutics; and Prof. em. Thomas Cerny, former head physician for oncology and haematology at the Cantonal Hospital of St. Gallen and acting president of national foundation for Cancer Research in Switzerland. Dr. Andreas Wallnöfer, former Head of Clinical Research & Exploratory Development at Roche Pharma and General Partner at BioMedPartners will join the Board to represent the lead investor.

“We are thrilled about the great interest our financing round has received from the private and professional investor community. We greatly appreciate the continued support of our shareholders and we are excited to have attracted internationally renowned investment firms like BioMedPartners, Redalpine, and Altos Venture,” commented Dr. Stefanie Flückiger-Mangual, CEO and co-founder of TOLREMO (picture above). “Together with the addition of world-leading industry experts to our board of directors, this validates the growing interest in the unique drug resistance platform we have built. We aim to use our resistance-breaking molecules to make the therapeutic response to existing cancer drugs more durable. The additional funding will allow us to further accelerate our pioneering work in this field and to rapidly achieve key milestones in our preclinical development programs.”

Adressing a major clinical problemThe human body can become resistant or immune not only to pathogens but also to drugs. This is a phenomenon seen in the treatment of tumours. TOLREMO created a broad cancer drug resistance platform that provides a unique entry point into this major clinical problem. Dr. Stefanie Flückiger-Mangual led the team of scientists who discovered novel drug resistance mechanisms in cancer. In two parallel R&D programs the company develops resistance-breaking add-on therapies that extend the therapeutic benefit of oncogene-targeting cancer drugs (Adaptive Drug Resistance Program) and anti-angiogenic cancer drugs (Hypoxia-Driven Drug Resistance Program). TOLREMO’s unique drug resistance platform has the potential to catalyze a new wave of potent resistance-breaking molecules that will meaningfully extend the lives of patients suffering from cancer.

(Press release / SK)