Osborne Clarke advises cancer immunotherapeutics company Epitopea on US$31m pre-Series A financing

International legal practice Osborne Clarke has advised Epitopea, a transatlantic cancer immunotherapeutics company developing accessible off-the-shelf RNA-based immunotherapies, on the closing of a US$31 million pre-Series A financing.

The financing brings the total capital raised by Epitopea to over US$45 million. New investors include Investissement Québec, adMare BioInnovations and Jonathan Milner. They join existing life science investors Advent Life Sciences, CTI Life Sciences, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Fonds de Solidarité FTQ, the Harrington Discovery Institute, IRICoR and Novateur Ventures, all of whom also participated in this financing round.

Based in Cambridge, UK and Montreal, Canada, Epitopea is developing accessible off-the-shelf RNA-based immunotherapies for use in hard-to-treat cancers by targeting a new class of untapped tumour-specific antigens, known as Cryptigen™ TSAs, that are broadly shared across multiple patients with the same tumour type.

Proceeds from the pre-Series A raise will be used to accelerate Epitopea’s development campaigns, facilitating its transition to a clinical-stage company, with a commitment to delivering transformational RNA cancer immunotherapy into the clinic in 2026.

"We continue to make significant strides toward the clinic, which has strengthened investor enthusiasm in support of our forward-looking mission and vision. This pre-Series A round supports our strategic pre-clinical discovery in solid tumours of interest while accelerating our near-term clinical development plans for Epitopea’s next generation, tumour selective, off-the-shelf, RNA-based immunotherapies that we believe have the potential to extend the durability of clinical response in patients. Given our transatlantic presence we are thrilled to have our Cambridge, UK operations and growing European presence supported by the talented team at Osborne Clarke.”

Dr. Alan C. Rigby, CEO at Epitopea

Osborne Clarke's team was led by Partner Justin Starling and included Associate Director Emma Charlton and Senior Paralegal Fern Tawera.

Osborne Clarke’s Corporate team is considered a go-to practice for many companies in the life sciences and healthcare sector. The team advises at every stage of company development across all corporate issues, from equity and debt fundraisings to M&A, IPOs and JVs.