CHF 150,000 for higher cancer drug efficacy

The poor efficacy of cancer drugs in female patients is the cause of one in six cancer deaths in women. This is mainly due to the fact that the artificial models currently used to test the efficacy of cancer drugs cannot replicate the complexity of patient tumors. As a result, most cancer drugs are not approved due to lack of efficacy and their development is extremely costly. Even when they are approved, cancer drugs have a failure rate of over 95%.

Calico Biosystems combines experimental and digital methods to directly assess the efficacy of treatments in patient tumors, overcoming current models that cannot adequately reflect the complexity of tumors. In addition, Calico Biosystems' digital strategy uses computational modeling to predict the most effective therapeutic combinations for clinical use, enabling pharmaceutical companies to develop more effective and affordable cancer treatments. The co-founders, CEO Marie-Agnès Doucey and CSO Riccardo Turrini, are former employees of the Université de Lausanne (Unil) and have more than 15 years of experience in systems immuno-oncology. Calico aims to lead the precision oncology market and capture 8% of an industry market expected to reach over USD 250 billion by 2030 for drugs in preclinical development and Phase I clinical trials.

The team has now received the final funding of CHF 150,000 from venture kick and will use this seed funding for market entry, innovation and business growth through strategic partnerships.

“This exceptional program helped us get the right mindset, kicked us out of our comfort zone, and challenged our vision, pushing us to focus on what matters to achieve a successful business strategy,” stated Riccardo Turrini.

(Press release / SR)
Image: Calico Biosystems’ Co-Founders: CSO Riccardo Turrini and CEO Marie-Agnès Doucey