Leading oncology company Incanthera has launched a partnership with global investment group Technomark Life Sciences

The two businesses will work together to prepare ICT2588 - Incanthera’s revolutionary treatment for solid tumours - for clinical trials.

Merseyside-based company Incanthera has developed a groundbreaking ‘smart bomb’ treatment which targets solid tumour cells directly using a unique molecule that allows highly toxic drugs to attack tumours with the potential of virtually no side effects to the rest of the body.

Other patient benefits include fewer side effects and reduced frequency of treatment, resulting in potential cost savings for medical professionals and less disruption for patients.

This groundbreaking opportunity recently scooped Incanthera the Start-Up Company of the Year accolade at the Bionow awards.

The partnership with Technomark has come at a particularly important stage in the development of ICT2588, as the task of finding investors for early stage pharmaceutical development is notoriously difficult.

Incanthera launched in 2010 and is backed by the Institute of Cancer Therapeutics at the University of Bradford, where its academic founders benefited from the support of Yorkshire Cancer Research and Cancer Research UK,

In addition to the Technomark deal, the team has also secured a further £450,000 investment from SPARK Impact, managers of the North West Fund for Biomedical, and has raised over £200,000 of funding from private individuals who share a concern for improving the chances of surviving cancer.

Dr Simon Ward, Incanthera’s CEO, said: “"I am delighted to have struck this first commercial deal for the company. ICT2588 is now being recognised by the industry as a serious and appealing new drug opportunity and we hope to now move rapidly to the clinic.

“I am particularly pleased to have Technomark as a investor / partner in these early stages of the development, as they appreciate and provide a solution to the prevailing investor-shy commitment to pre-clinical work, without which no new drugs would ever make it to the patient."

Alan Warrander, Non-Executive Director for Incanthera, said: “Incanthera are delighted to have Technomark playing a major role in this current funding round. This financing, coupled with the innovative arrangement with Technomark's co-funding business model, has enabled initiation of the preclinical toxicology package with ICT2588.

“We are excited to have started this phase of the development which will underpin our planned clinical programme with ICT2588 which, we believe, will establish the agent as a novel, effective anticancer drug and with significant commercial prospects.”

Allen Hakimi, Technomark’s CEO, said: “We see Incanthera as a very exciting company in our portfolio, not only because of its novel drug candidate, but also because we intend to participate in the clinical program as part of a long term relationship ”.

Dr Penny Attridge (Senior Investment Director) from SPARK Impact said: “Incanthera have achieved fantastic success in a relatively short space of time. This investment from Technomark as part of this current investment round, bears testament to their clear strategy and excellent team.”

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