- Founded
- 2017
- CEO
- Catherine Pickering
- % Shareholding
- 23%
- Stage
- Clinical
- Number of employees
- c.20
- Clinical trials
- 3
Unless stated all financials at 30 September 2024
iOnctura is a clinical-stage oncology company developing innovative therapies for neglected and hard-to-treat cancers.
iOnctura is pioneering oral small molecule therapies that maximise anti-tumour efficacy whilst prioritising patient safety. The company has a platform of precision targeted first-in-class, safe, oral small molecule immunotherapies for oncology. It’s lead candidate, roginolisib, is a first-in-class allosteric modulator of PI3K delta (PI3Kδ), which has potential application across a variety of solid tumour and haematological cancers.
PI3Ks are enzymes that help to control growth in cells and are commonly involved in cancer. The biopharma industry has long tried to harness this mechanism for the treatment of cancer but previous generations of PI3K inhibitors have often targeted many PI3K sub-types and, as a result, have high toxicity. Roginolisib is highly differentiated as the first allosteric modulator of PI3Kδ. This affords high selectivity and specific targeting of only the delta isoform.
Roginolisib has the potential to become the first successful, clinically meaningful therapy to target this critical PI3Kδ cancer mechanism. To date roginolisib has demonstrated long-term safety and efficacy in a Phase Ib clinical trial for metastatic uveal melanoma, a rare cancer of the eye where patients have very limited treatment options.
In 2024 Syncona led a €30 million (£25.7 million) as part of a €80 million (£68.4 million) Series B financing. Syncona is working with the company to explore the breadth of roginolisib’s potential utility.
Investment thesis
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iOnctura represented an opportunity to invest in a clinical-stage company that has published promising emerging data to date
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Opportunity to drive lead programme through late-stage clinical development
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The PI3K signalling pathway is one of the most commonly dysregulated pathways in cancer
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iOnctura’s lead programme, roginolisib, is a first-in-class, highly selective allosteric inhibitor of PI3Kδ, with a unique chemical structure and binding mode
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The Syncona team has worked closely alongside iOnctura to consider the broader application of roginolisib across a variety of solid tumours
Unmet medical need
- Once metastasised (50% of patients) overall survival of uveal melanoma patients drops to one year1
Market opportunity
- Over 7,000 new cases of uveal melanoma annually worldwide2
1 Rantala, 2019.
2 GLOBOCAN 2020.
The iOnctura pipeline
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Roginolisib – Uveal melanoma
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Roginolisib – NSCLC and myelofibrosis
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IOA-289 – Pancreatic cancer