Austrian startup OncoOne has announced closing a €13 million Series A financing round, led by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG), the Austria Wirtschaftsservice Gesellschaft (AWS), and two family offices.
With extensive experience in drug discovery and development, the founders, Randolf Kerschbaumer PhD, Michael Thiele PhD and Alexander Schinagl PhD founded OncoOne in 2017 to develop multiple proprietary drug modalities targeting oxMIF, with the goal of rapidly entering clinical trials in pancreatic, colorectal, lung and ovarian cancer.
In more detail, the startup will use the funding to develop several drug modalities that target oxidized macrophage migration inhibitory factor (oxMIF), an isoform of macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) and an exciting new drug target in solid tumor cancer indications.
“As a target, oxMIF provides a very unique opportunity because in contrast to many other targets currently investigated in cancer therapy, it is generated by a post-translational mechanism and is characterized by a remarkable tumor specificity. OxMIF can be harnessed to attack specific types of tumors through different drug modalities,” said Randolf Kerschbaumer, CEO of OncoOne. “Our company name represents our united ambition to use our combined drug development expertise to access the varied potential of oxMIF and the initial funding will enable us to explore this potential to provide innovative treatments for cancer indications with poor prognosis.”
