BioMoti, the cancer therapeutics co-development company, has completed an initial private finance round of £150,000 under the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS). The financing was led by the Oxford Technology OT(S)EIS Fund and an existing shareholder. The financing will be used to progress the Oncojan™ therapeutics delivery platform towards a regulatory compliant preclinical package that will underpin future clinical trial authorisation of an ovarian cancer lead candidate.

Oncojans™ are a new class of advanced therapeutic microparticles that can target and gain entry to the interior of cancer cells where they slowly release drugs at the point of need whilst sparing healthy tissue. This has the potential to transform the clinical treatment of cancer by dramatically increasing the efficacy of cytotoxics or new chemical entities whilst reducing their devastating side effects. Early preclinical studies of a lead ovarian cancer candidate compared to the current clinical standard of care have shown remarkably good results including 65-fold reductions in tumour burden, doubling of median survival and decreases in toxicity.

The technology platform was developed from original research in the laboratories of Prof Joanne Martin at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry part of Queen Mary, University of London.

Dr Davidson Ateh, CEO of BioMoti said: ‘This private investment round follows the recent award of a TSB Biomedical Catalyst grant that together will enable the initial development stages of our promising lead ovarian cancer candidate and business growth. We very much look forward to working with new investor Oxford Technology towards clinical translation of our exciting platform.’

Dr Keith Powell, Chairman of BioMoti added: ‘The small team at BioMoti have worked very hard to progress the project to this point and the encouraging data we have seen demonstrates the exciting potential of the technology to increase efficacy and reduce toxicity in the same delivery of an active chemotherapy. We look forward to getting this treatment to the clinic and eventually to patients.’

Lucius Cary, Managing Director of Oxford Technology said: ‘Oxford Technology is delighted to be investing in BioMoti. Ovarian cancer remains a major problem and BioMoti’s approach offers the possibility of a substantial improvement over the current methods of treatment.’

The SEIS scheme offers generous incentives in the form of tax relief for backers of qualifying start-ups and was introduced by the Chancellor George Osborne as part of the Finance Bill that received Royal Assent last year.

For further information, please contact:

Dr Davidson Ateh CEO
info@biomoti.com

Tony Stephenson
PR Consultant
+44 78 9979 6655
tony.stephenson@biomoti.com

Notes to editors:

BioMoti

BioMoti seeks to transform the treatment of cancer by targeted delivery of therapeutics to the intracellular space of cancer cells; aiming to dramatically increase efficacy whilst reducing side effects. Oncojan™ is a revolutionary cancer therapeutic delivery platform initially developed at Queen Mary, University of London. The platform is compatible with a range of drug classes from small molecules to larger biologicals. MOTI1001 is BioMoti’s lead oncojan™ based ovarian cancer candidate that has shown very promising potential in early preclinical studies.

www.biomoti.com

Oxford Technology

Oxford Technology Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme and Enterprise Investment Scheme Fund exists to make investments in start-up technology companies, giving its investors the opportunity of having a portfolio of investments all of which benefit from the exceptionally generous tax reliefs of the SEIS scheme. OT(S)EIS will then have the ability to support these early SEIS investments with follow-on EIS investments in subsequent years. OT(S)EIS remains open for investors.

www.oxfordtechnology.com