UPyTher attracts seed financing to advance the treatment of peritoneal cancer

By Team IO

UPyTher, a start-up pioneering innovative therapeutics for treating patients with peritoneal cancer, has secured a substantial amount from a group of investors. Peritoneal cancer is an unmet medical need, often contributing to treatment failure and increased mortality rates in patients with colorectal, ovarian, and gastric cancers.

The height of the investment was not disclosed. The investment will enable the preclinical development of UPyTher’s lead product UPT-211 for treating peritoneal metastases of colorectal cancer and prepare for the first in-patient studies.  

UPyTher B.V. is a private pharmaceutical company based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, dedicated to turning peritoneal cancer into a treatable disease. Building upon proprietary polymer technology, UPyTher pioneers innovative therapeutics specifically designed and developed for use in the peritoneal cavity. UPyTher aims to establish a new standard in intraperitoneal therapy that offers lifesaving opportunities for patients and makes intraperitoneal therapy simple, safe, and effective.

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Each year, more than one million people worldwide contract peritoneal cancer. It is often the result of metastasis from colon, stomach, or ovarian cancer.

“In combination with the recently granted OPZuid funding, this investment will accelerate the preclinical development program for UPT-211”, says CEO Geert van Almen. “This funding allows us to demonstrate the effectiveness and safety of our proprietary technology to serve as a platform to develop a wide portfolio of innovative and effective therapeutics to treat peritoneal cancer of other primary cancers such as ovarian and gastric cancer, as well as multiple other disorders in the peritoneal cavity”, added CTO Peter Paul Fransen.

Floris Hamel, Investment Manager at BOM, is convinced that with its products, UPyTher has the potential to make a significant impact on the lives of patients diagnosed with peritoneal cancer. “This start-up can change the current treatment paradigm by making intraperitoneal therapy simple, safe, and effective.”

UPyTher B.V. was founded in 2020 by Professor Patricia Dankers, Dr. Peter-Paul Fransen, and Dr. Geert van Almen as a spin-off from the DankersLab research group at the Eindhoven University of Technology.