• Positive Results of Efficacy in Dogs of iBoost Vaccine-Based Cancer Immunotherapy Published in Nature Communications

• Seed round led by Positron Ventures, backed by several healthcare investors, including Tom Würdinger, professor at UMC Amsterdam and biotech investor

• The funds will be used to advance the cancer vaccine to phase 1-2 clinical trials in humans

AMSTERDAM, June 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — CimCure, a biotech spin-off from Amsterdam UMC, which is focused on developing novel vaccine-based cancer immunotherapy through its Immune-Boost (iBoost) technology, announced today that today having raised just over €5 million in a funding round led by Dutch VC Positron Ventures. The round was backed by several investors with deep knowledge of the industry, including the investment vehicle of Tom Würdinger, a professor at Amsterdam UMC. With the proceeds from this funding round, CimCure will advance the vaccine to Phase 1-2 clinical studies in humans. Dutch vaccine CDMO Intravacc will partner with CimCure in the development and production of the lead compound.

Vaccine-based immunotherapy developed by the team of Prof. Dr. Griffioen at UMC Amsterdam and licensed to CimCure, has shown high efficacy and safety, both in mouse animal models and in a human study. efficacy in client dogs with spontaneous bladder cancer. At the end of May, some of the research results that underpin CimCure’s innovation were published in Nature Communications (Van Beijnum et al, 2022).

CimCure was founded in 2016 as a spin-off from Amsterdam UMC supported by Amsterdam UMC’s TTO Innovation Exchange Amsterdam and is led by Prof. dr. Arjan GriffioenCSOs and Diederik Engbersen, CEO. Both have extensive experience in the biotechnology industry and launched CimCure to commercialize a smart, effective and safe treatment strategy against all types of solid tumors at all stages, and can be combined with conventional and cutting-edge cancer strategies. .

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Joseph Peererfounding partner of Positron said:
“We feel privileged to be able to invest in this promising iBoost technology and vaccine-based cancer immunotherapy, which could be a game-changer in the fight against cancer. This investment in CimCure illustrates our thesis to invest at an early stage. in outstanding scientists who would like to bring a potentially revolutionary and impactful innovation to market.Professor Griffioen’s invention could lead to a much less demanding, cheaper and more effective cancer treatment.

Diederik EngbersenCEO of CimCure, said:
“We are delighted with this funding round led by Positron and supported by Tom Würdinger. Our promising early findings with mouse animal models and customer-owned dogs were recently published in Nature Communications, reinforcing our commitment to advancing our technology and therapy toward clinical trials. and cancer patients around the world over the next few years.”

About CimCure Vaccine Immunotherapy
CimCure develops cancer vaccines through its proprietary Immune-Boost (iBoost) technology of targeted conjugate vaccines. The company has identified specific targets in the tumor vasculature. Eradication of tumor blood vessels and inhibition of their growth will lead to inhibition of cancer growth. This is an interesting approach for the treatment of cancer. However, past and current angiostatic drugs are notorious for rapid induction of drug resistance and loss of efficacy, due to intervention in tumor-produced growth factors or their receptors. CimCure’s approach directly targets tumor blood vessels, effectively attenuating tumor growth directly and not inducing resistance. An additional advantage of targeting blood vessels is that the barrier function of the tumor vasculature for leukocytes can be overcome (Huinen et al, Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology, 2021).

About CimCure
CimCure is a 2016 spin-off from Amsterdam UMC. CimCure is focused on designing and developing a new class of active cancer immunotherapies. The company is privately funded and maintains a web presence at www.cimcure.com.

About Positron Ventures
Positron Ventures is a € 75m (Pre-)seed fund for European science-based startups tackling the biggest global challenges and can benefit from the operational involvement of our team of entrepreneurs, negotiators and teambuilders.

See for more information: www.positron.ventures

About Innovation Exchange Amsterdam UMC (IXA)
IXA is a network, service desk and liaison organization for UMC Amsterdam, providing researchers with the expertise of grant advisors, business developers and legal experts to help determine a valorization strategy/ impact. IXA helps establish collaborations with third parties and/or start new businesses, while managing intellectual property and other legal and financial support.

For more information, go to www.ixa.nl

contacts:

Cim Cure
Diederik EngbersenCEO
Such. : +31 6 46 336 338
E: [email protected]

Positron Ventures
Joseph Peererfounding partner
Such. : +31 6 51 197 847
Email: [email protected]

UMC Amsterdam
Daniëla Cohen, press officer Amsterdam UMC
Such. : +31 20 444 3444
E: [email protected]

For the media
LifeSpring Life Science Communication, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Leon Melens
Such. : +31 6 538 16 427
Email: [email protected]

References
Huinen, Z., Huijbers, EJM, Van Beijnum, JR, Nowak-Sliwinska, P. and Griffioen, AW (2021). Anti-angiogenic agents – overcoming tumor endothelial cell anergy and improving immunotherapy results. Nat. Rev. Wink. Oncol. 18, 527-540.

Van Beijnum, JR, Huijbers, EJM, Van Loon, K., Blanas, A., Akbari, P., Roos, A., Wong, TJ, Denisov, S., Jimenez, CR, Hackeng, TM, (2022) . Extracellular vimentin mimics VEGF and is a target for anti-angiogenic immunotherapy Nat Common 13, 20.

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SOURCECimCure