Swedish Elypta announced last week that it is one of the winners in the EU program Horizon 2020 SME instrument phase 2 and has been awarded 2.35 million EUR.
The grant will fund a multicenter trial for diagnoses of renal cell carcinoma (RCC), aimed at validating the company’s metabolism-based liquid biopsy platform for early detection of recurrent RCC and thus enabling the test to be launched in Europe and the US. Elypta was one of 60 European companies out of around 2 000 original applicants to receive a phase 2 grant in the latest funding round.
Identification of distinct signatures
Elypta’s new method involves measuring a unique panel of metabolites whose composition has been found to be altered in the blood and urine of cancer patients, allowing identification of distinct “signatures” using machine learning. These signatures or biomarkers are exceptionally sensitive and can be identified for a variety of cancers. Elypta’s initial focus is on developing a test for early detection of recurrent renal cell carcinoma, the most common form of kidney cancer, and therefore increasing the chances of curative treatment for these patients.
More trials are planned
“We believe our new metabolism-based approach using easily collected blood or urine samples allows for a safe and highly sensitive test that is ideal for close follow-up of cancer patients. We are therefore delighted to have received this grant enabling the launch of our first pivotal trial for Renal Cell Carcinoma. In the coming years, we plan to initiate more trials to benefit patients across cancer,” says Elypta CEO Karl Bergman. “This grant also allows us to start growing the Elypta team to deliver on our plan and commitment to EU. We also expect to raise more capital to fully address the opportunities we see.”
Photo of Souad Abou Shameh, Laboratory Engineer, in the lab. Photo: Francesco Gatto
