Every day, Global University Venturing rounds up the smaller investments from across the university innovation ecosystem in its deal net.
Honing Biosciences, a France-based drug booster spinout of cancer research hub Institut Curie, has obtained €2m ($2.3m) from state-owned investment bank Bpifrance, venture capital firm Elaia and an unnamed private investor. Formed in 2018, Honing Biosciences is developing a technology to enhance the efficacy of cell-based therapies, by modulating the of proteins within each cell. The spinout will initially focus on a booster for cancer chimeric antigen receptor T-cell immunotherapies, based on a specific vitamin that would be added to the patient’s diet. Existing Car T-cell drugs have proven effective in treating cancer however can cause toxic side-effects. The booster would add a self-modulating switch to each T-cell so that, once tumours are defeated, its effects taper off. Honing Biosciences was formed with support from the Institut Curie-backed French Tech Seed program, an initiative under PSL Innovation Fund, the deep tech-focused seed fund launched by Université PSL and managed by Elaia. The cell-boosting technology emerged from research in the lab of Franck Perez, a research director responsible for a joint program between Institut Curie, national research institute CNRS and Sorbonne University. Honing Biosciences previously raised an undisclosed seed sum from Institut Curie in 2018.
