Brussels, Belgium, 24 February 2021 – Newton Biocapital I (“Newton Biocapital”), a life sciences investment fund active in Europe and Japan focused on chronic diseases, has announced investment in DeuterOncology. Newton Biocapital’s second investment in Flanders, DeuterOncology is a preclinical-stage biotech company focusing on the development of a first-in-class dual MET and RAS pathway inhibitor for targeted cancer therapies.
Recently MET inhibitors have been approved, yet they all suffer from the same issue: resistance is quick to arise. As the RAS pathway is located downstream of MET, RAS pathway inhibitors represent a
promising new target for overcoming or delaying these resistance issues. DeuterOncology’s lead compound DO-2 is a dual MET and RAS pathway inhibitor under pre-clinical investigation as a targeted therapy for lung cancer, as well as potential broader oncology applications when used in combination with EGFR inhibitors.
Timothy Perera, founder and CEO of DeuterOncology: “We are grateful for the financial support of Newton Biocapital, which will help us to advance the development of our lead program DO-2 towards Phase I clinical trials. Our compounds have the potential to overcome resistance to MET inhibitors, and we are excited that this funding brings us a step closer to offering our cancer solutions to clinicians and patients.”
Els Hubloux, partner at Newton Biocapital Partners: “DeuterOncology brings a wealth of experience in pre-clinical and clinical research, for kinase inhibitors in general and particularly for MET inhibitors. Newton Biocapital is proud to take DeuterOncology into its portfolio, with the ambition to bring novel treatment approaches for cancer patients closer to market.”
About DeuterOncology
DeuterOncology was founded in September 2020 by Timothy Perera in Flanders, Belgium. The company is focused on the pre-clinical validation and development of DO-2, a novel MET and RAS pathway inhibitor sublicensed (worldwide rights outside of greater China) from OCTIMET Oncology NV and originally licensed from Janssen Pharmaceutica in 2017. DeuterOncology’s portfolio contains a sublicense to the all OCTIMET compounds, includes a clinical-stage MET kinase inhibitor that has been evaluated in both a monotherapy and combination therapy setting in cancer patients in Europe. DeuterOncology works together with a broad established network of collaborators across the world to try to bring new solutions to cancer patients.
About Newton Biocapital
Newton Biocapital I is a Venture Capital Firm incorporated in Belgium, focused on financing biotech and life science projects in Europe and Japan for the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. The fund’s approach as lead investor is to support promising start-up projects as well as neglected or undervalued late-stage projects, in order to mitigate the risks and to create investor value. The leadership team consists of specialists with long-standing management and investor experience who coach bio-entrepreneurs through the development stages of their projects. Newton Biocapital’s mission is to generate substantial financial and societal value by providing innovative, breakthrough, and affordable solutions to patients.
