For investors
The opportunity
NEOGAP Therapeutics is a cutting-edge medical technology company that is developing a new type of personalised therapy for the treatment of cancer. Unlike traditional cancer treatments, NEOGAP’s therapy is tailor-made for each patient and its specific tumour cells. By using proprietary machine learning algorithms and patented technology to train the patient’s own T cells to attack cancer cells, the therapy shows great promise to succeed where others fail.
NEOGAP’s immunotherapy has the potential to be used across various cancers, but the company’s initial focus will be on colorectal cancer, which is the second leading cause of cancer death. The company’s phase I/IIa clinical study on colorectal cancer patients was approved by the Swedish Medical Products Agency earlier this year and will be started in Q2 2023.
Pre-clinical proof of concept
NEOGAP’s preclinical studies have demonstrated that PIOR® and EpiTCer® can generate T cells targeting neoantigens by using immune cells from colorectal cancer patients as starting material. The company has also shown a significant delay in tumour growth in mice using PIOR® and EpiTCer® in a similar approach which is used for another potential drug candidate. Additionally, NEOGAP has conducted a study in rats demonstrating that the EpiTCer® beads are safe to use in the production of the therapy.
Experienced and dedicated team
NEOGAP has a multidisciplinary team of highly skilled professionals with extensive experience from both academia and the pharmaceutical industry.
The CEO, Samuel Svensson, has more than 25 years of experience in pharmaceutical development. As Head of the Department and Project Leader at AstraZeneca R&D, he took three substances from development into phase I clinical trials.
The founder and CSO, Hans Grönlund, brings over 30 years of experience in academic research and the pharma industry and previously served as the Director of the Reagents department at Pharmacia Diagnostics.
The team possesses expertise in immunology research and development, with the majority of members holding PhDs. They have scientific, technical, and medical knowledge in areas such as bioinformatics, software development, protein production, immunology, cell biology, quality management, GMP production, and medical expertise.
Growing colorectal cancer therapeutics market
Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide. In 2018, there were over 1.8 million new cases of colorectal cancer (CRC) and 881,000 deaths estimated globally. This corresponds to approximately one in ten cancer cases and deaths.
For CRC patients with stage IV metastasized disease, which represents 25% of all CRC incidences globally, the prognosis is poor. These patients have a five-year survival rate of only 12-13%, highlighting a significant unmet medical need that NEOGAP’s pTTL cell therapy product aims to address.
The pTTL concept has the potential to be applied to any cancer form in the future since neoantigens are present across all tumour types. The global colorectal cancer therapeutics market was valued at USD 10 billion in 2021 and is expected to continue to grow due to increased incidence and improved diagnostic methods. NEOGAP’s focus on late-stage colorectal cancer with its pTTL cell therapy product is well-positioned to address this growing market need while also providing potential for expansion to other cancer types in the future.
Furthermore, NEOGAP has demonstrated that its patented technology, EpiTCer®, can be used to identify which immune cells are involved in autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis.
Exit strategy
NEOGAP’s long-term goal is to build a successful company that brings novel treatments to the market. As part of this goal, the company aims to provide its shareholders with the opportunity to realize their investment through an initial public offering (IPO) and/or an acquisition.
Recent M&A activities in the immune-oncology field also open up for acquisition after, and even during, NEOGAP’s ongoing clinical study. The biotech company Neogene Therapeutics was acquired during their phase I study by AstraZeneca for USD 320 million in cash and milestones earlier this year.