An Oxford University spinout firm developing cancer vaccines has raised millions of pounds in seed funding.

Infinitopes Precision Immunomics has raised £12.8 million through a heavily oversubscribed seed funding round.

Octopus Ventures led the round, with contributions from Cancer Research Horizons, Cancer Research Institute, CRIS Cancer Foundation, and several others.

Infinitopes also received an award from Innovate UK’s Future Economy Investor Partnership scheme.

Since it was created in 2021, the company has been creating patient-tailored cancer vaccines.

Jonathan Kwok, CEO and co-founder of Infinitopes said: "Since founding in September 2021, Infinitopes has established world leading capabilities to design, develop, and clinically evaluate an exciting new class of precision targeted, durable cancer vaccines.

"We continue to seek academic and big pharma collaborators, smart technical investors, and passionate new hires and interns to join our mission to cure cancer.”

By leveraging its Precision ImmunomicsTM antigen discovery technologies, Infinitopes identifies and ranks tumour signatures, enabling the accurate selection of tumour targets.

Safe and effective vector delivery systems are being developed, designed to stimulate T-cell responses necessary to prevent the recurrence of life-threatening malignant growths.

The company’s lead asset, a cancer vaccine named ITOP1, is scheduled for a study involving first line cancer patients in the third quarter of 2024.

The company received an Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway innovation passport from the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in August 2022, facilitating this rapid transition into the clinic.