The biotech firm DISCO Pharmaceuticals, which is based in Schlieren in the canton of Zurich and in Cologne, Germany, has secured seed funding of 20 million euros. The investor consortium comprised globally leading venture capital firms such as Sofinnova Partners (Paris), Panakès Partners (Milan), M Ventures (Amsterdam) and AbbVie Ventures (North Chicago), further details of which can be found in a press release.
DISCO Pharmaceuticals was founded in 2022 as a spin-off from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH). Its Swiss headquarters are located at the Bio-Technopark Schlieren-Zürich. The company works to decode the organization of proteins on the surface of cancer cells, dubbed the “surfaceome” by co-founder Prof. Bernd Wollscheid. For its part, the DISCO Pharmaceuticals team has developed a new method to identify new targets for tumor therapies. The development of new treatment modalities in oncology is increasing at an accelerating pace, but the lack of cell target surfaces limits the application to a few clinically effective targets. The development of new biologics such as antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and bi-specific antibodies is increasing; however, there are currently less than 30 molecular targets that form the basis of all antibody-based therapies. Therefore, there is a significant need to identify novel, cancer-selective targets and target pairs.
DISCO’s platform for mapping the organization of cell surfaces identifies proteins and protein communities across the entire surface of cancer cells. DISCO has created the first map of the surfaceome of a type of cancer, small cell lung cancer (SCLC), and is developing proprietary antibody-based treatments for SCLC, which has historically been difficult to treat. DISCO is also carrying out research into microsatellite-stable colorectal cancer, for which there are presently not a great deal of treatment options available.
“Today, we are launching DISCO Pharmaceuticals and its breakthrough technology after a decade of research by our exceptional team”, comments Prof. Roman Thomas, CEO of DISCO Pharmaceuticals, in the press release. The resultant technology is “truly disruptive” and looks set to “transform oncology treatment options”, he adds.
