Montreal, Canada / Munich, Germany – 01 February 2023 – TVM Capital Life Science (“TVM”), a leading transatlantic life sciences investment firm focused on investments in life sciences innovation, today announced that the company will invest up to USD 24 million in the newly formed U.S.-based biotechnology company, Recurv Pharma, Inc. (“Recurv”) with its fund TVM Life Science Innovation II SCSp (“TVM LSI II”). Recurv plans to develop to proof-of-concept a novel taxane therapy to treat solid tumors.
Also, TVM will provide strategic advice to the company with Dr. Luc Marengère, Managing Partner joining the Board of Directors and Dr. Valentina Agostoni, Associate, serving as a Board Observer. Recurv is the 8th early-stage or project-focused company (PFC) investment for the TVM Life Science Innovation II Fund.
James E. Egan, CEO of Recurv, said: “TVM’s investment is designed to get us to a key value inflection point, namely, Phase 2a proof-of-concept, with our cancer program, RP-001. Taxanes have been a cornerstone of cancer treatment for decades, but they can come with significant side effects, and treated cancers frequently recur. We are looking to provide a safer, more efficacious treatment option that may be used in combination with immunotherapies and in a far wider range of cancers, even those resistant to current taxanes. We are excited to have TVM’s strong support and to now have the resources to further the development of this potentially game-changing molecule.”
Dr. Luc Marengère, Managing Partner of TVM, said: “TVM is excited about the potential of this novel approach which could introduce a new and safer taxane for cancers previously unresponsive to such treatment. Recurv is a perfect fit for TVM’s project-focused company investment objective – that is, to invest in first- or best-in-class product candidates with strong scientific rationale and the potential for clear differentiation from competition or added clinical value to current standard of care. TVM looks forward to working with James and the rest of the experienced team at Recurv to help them advance this important program into a clinical proof-of-concept.”
For its PFC investments, TVM has a unique arrangement with Eli Lilly and Company (“Lilly”), which is a limited partner in TVM LSI II and the earlier fund TVM LSI I, under which TVM and its PFCs have the option to engage Chorus, a full-service autonomous research and development unit within Lilly, to assist the PFC by implementing a lean and focused drug development plan, resulting in high-quality data packages to help determine proof of concept.
RP-001 is a new chemical entity (NCE) delivered in a nano-emulsion formulation that focuses the drug delivery to the tumor, sparing healthy organs. The molecule has demonstrated the ability to kill tumors even in multi-drug resistant cancers, with strong efficacy in various pre-clinical tumor models, including non-small cell lung, breast, ovarian, prostate, pancreatic and colorectal cancers. It has also been proven in preclinical models to cure tumor types that are resistant to current taxane treatments. The data have shown that RP-001 can effectively kill cancer stem cells, the cells that trigger recurrence, and toxicology studies suggest a potentially superior safety profile compared to taxanes currently on the market. Additionally, RP-001 was demonstrated to be synergistic with immune checkpoint inhibitors in a pancreatic cancer model.
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