Biotech ImmVirX bucks VC desert to bank raise at $75m valuation
Source: Financial Review, June 2023
A team of doctors has bucked the harsh venture-capital environment to bank a $15 million cornerstone investment from One Ventures, locking in financing to take their cancer-killing virus beyond its first human tests.
Newcastle-based ImmVirX aims to raise $25 million in total at a $75 million valuation, using the funds to replicate the team’s previously successful development of melanoma-killing virus Viralytics, which was acquired by pharmaceutical giant Merck in 2018 for $502 million.
ImmVirX is developing a virus that targets colorectal, gastric or ovarian cancer cells. The virus targets, infects then kills cancer cells before multiplying and releasing particles to help destroy the remaining tumour. This same method underpinned the Viralytics breakthrough.