Azeria Therapeutics successful raises £4 million in investment round

Newly formed drug discovery company, Azeria Therapeutics, has announced that it has successfully raised £4 million in a Series A investment round from the £70 million CRT Pioneer Fund, managed by Sixth Element Capital.

Azeria is a spin out company that was created by Sixth Element Capital and Cancer Research UK’s commercial partnerships team. It is a pioneer factor drug discovery company developing breakthrough treatments for hormone resistant breast and prostate cancer patients.

This investment will be used to build upon the discoveries made by the company’s founder Dr Jason Carroll at his lab at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute at the University of Cambridge.

Through its proprietary drug screening platform, Azeria is developing a pipeline of small molecules designed to selectively inhibit pioneer factors. Initially, the company is targeting the essential pioneer factor FOXA1. This factor has been shown to be fundamental in tumour development and maintenance of oestrogen-receptor (ER) positive luminal breast cancer and is also thought to be critical in the development of prostate cancer.

“Azeria is the product of more than 10 years of research by Dr Jason Carroll,” explained Stephen Myatt, chief executive officer of Azeria Therapeutics and partner of Sixth Element Capital. “Using the insights from this foundational research we aim to deliver therapies against pioneer factors, a completely new target class in oncology, which have a fundamental role in disease biology. We are now seeking to advance this innovative research rapidly towards clinical trials.”

“Oestrogen receptors are the driving and defining transcription factor in 75% of breast cancers,” stated Dr Jason Carroll, founder and chief scientific officer of Azeria Therapeutics. “Our research has shown for the first time that DNA interactions and transcriptional potential of ER depend on the pioneer factor FOXA1, which plays an essential role in determining tumour growth and progression even when resistance to existing drugs has developed. Through the application of our unique insights into pioneer factors, we aim to identify inhibitors against this novel class of drug targets in cancer, which until now have been considered undruggable.”

“We are delighted to support the launch of Azeria and the work of Jason and his research group,” added Dr Rob James, chairman of Azeria Therapeutics, and managing partner of Sixth Element Capital. “This is one of the most exciting and differentiated approaches we have seen to treating breast and prostate cancer and sits well with our strategy of funding innovative science in order to bring new therapeutic products and technologies to market, improving the care and lives of cancer patients. Azeria was created to accelerate research and development into pioneer factor FOXA1 and translate this to clinical application. Sixth Element looks forward to supporting its continued growth.”

“We’re delighted to be involved in the formation of this exciting new company. We’re committed to helping translate the ground-breaking discoveries arising from Cancer Research UK’s research base into urgently needed new treatments for patients with cancer and we’re happy to provide support to Dr Carroll to help get this project off the ground,” commented Dr Iain Foulkes, Cancer Research UK’s executive director of research and innovation. “Researchers are only just beginning to understand the mechanisms that underpin drug resistance in cancer and it’s exciting to see pioneering research by Cancer Research UK scientists being used to develop treatments to help tackle this widespread problem.”