Venture capital and creation firm, Flagship Ventures, has launched Evelo Therapeutics, a new company that will use the microbiome as a resource to develop new therapies for cancer. The initial capital commitment is $35 million.
Evelo is using what it calls Oncobiotic therapeutics. It’s the first of its kind to examine and identify the biology of cancer-associated bacteria (CAB) and bacterial immune activators (BIAs). The new company’s approach is to leverage tumor-microenvironment modifications that can be mediated by the microbiome to disrupt tumor metabolism and the interactions between the tumor and surrounding tissue.
“Evelo’s proprietary technologies and platforms lay the foundation for the first company to approach treating cancer through an understanding of the microbiome,” Dr. Noubar Afeyan, senior managing partner and CEO of Flagship Ventures and co-founder of Evelo said in a release.
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“Flagship VentureLabs has been developing therapeutic platforms based on the microbiome for more than five years,” said Dr. David Berry, general partner at Flagship Ventures and co-founder of Evelo. “We believe Evelo’s proprietary Oncobiotic platform will lead to many new important products that revolutionize the treatment of cancer through this next-generation immunotherapy and through manipulation of the tumor microenvironment.”
Simba Gill, Ph.D. has been appointed as Evelo’s CEO. He has had extensive experience with leadership roles with both biotech and pharmaceutical companies over the past 30 years. In a phone interview Gill explained that this targeted therapy will be useful not only for cancer patients who have not previously responded to other treatments, but also as a first-attempt treatment for those who are diagnosed.
“We are already working on specific pre-clinical candidates, as well as developing the fundamental platform,” Gill said, admitting he can’t be too specific about the timeline moving forward at the moment. “We expect to be in human testing soon.”
Photo: Flickr user Asim Bharwani
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