The Amcure GmbH develops peptide-based agents to treat advanced or metastatic tumours. The lead agent candidate AMC303 is currently in a clinical trial phase. Since 2016, patients are being recruited for a phase I/IIb clinical study. In August, the company collected another 1.75 million Euros from the BMBF for the next steps to be taken. “This grant further validates the potential of Amcure’s lead candidate, AMC303, as a promising cancer therapeutic medication”, says Klaus Dembowsky, CEO of Amcure. With the funds, Amcure can finance the next procedures to develop the cancer drug.

With AMC303 against epithelial tumours

Thus far the in vitro and in vivo assays have shown a strong effect of AMC303 by restraining the coreceptor CD44v6. It is needed for signal transduction on a cellular level and is involved in tumour growth, the creation of new blood vessels and the development of metastases. During the ongoing clinical trial, patients with advanced or metastasising cancer of epithelial origin are being treated, including head and neck carcinoma, pancreatic, colon, breast, and lung cancer. In September, Amcure was able to present its study design for monotherapy of cancer patients at the international congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) in Madrid.

Early stage financing by Spinnovator

Amcure came into existence in 2012 as a spin-off by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). As part of the Spinnovator programme it was supported from the very beginning by funding from the BMBF and from venture capital companies. To date, the spin-off has received 4.2 million Euros in total from the BMBF. Around 6 million Euros additional funding came from a consortium led by LBBW Venture Capital, with the involvement of the KfW, and to which several investors such as the MBG Mittelständische Beteiligungsgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg, the S-Kap Beteiligungen Pforzheim, the KIT and private investors belong.

CEO Dembowsky is convinced that with the new financing from the BMBF and the additional funds they raised, amcure can go into the next round with confidence. “We are well positioned for clinical development with the CD44v6 inhibitor and we will continue to concentrate on tumour growth and metastasis”, says Dembowsky.

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