Ferronova, an Australian biotech company, announced today that it has received an additional A$11 million in funding to advance the company's nanoparticle platform, which will help surgeons more accurately locate and remove malignant cells during treatment of gastrointestinal and brain tumours.
Renew Pharmaceuticals Limited (Renew) of Ireland led a A$8 million capital raise, with an additional A$3 million secured through an Australian Government Co-operative Research Centers Project (CRC-P) grant. Existing Ferronova shareholders, led by Uniseed, as well as Artesian Venture Partners, took part. The latest round of funding for the Adelaide, South Australian-based company follows $4.6 million in seed capital and Series A funding.
Dr. John Parker, Chairman of Ferronova, stated that the international investment from Renew Pharmaceuticals and existing investors, as well as the CRC-P grant, have created a strong platform for accelerating trials in gastrointestinal and brain cancers.
"Research now shows one in two people will develop cancer in their lifetime and thanks to new technology, awareness and screening programs cancers are being detected earlier. Improvement in precision imaging, surgery, and therapy are now essential to improving long term outcomes. Australia has a strong track record in developing ground-breaking medical solutions and I believe Ferronova has the capability to be a game changer in this field.
"We are delighted to welcome Renew Pharmaceuticals as a shareholder. They are a world leader in the provision of dye-based contrast agents for image guided cancer surgery, and this collaboration will help us to progress our trial program and ultimately deliver our products to the 80+ countries that Renew's distribution network supports."
Ferronova CEO Stewart Bartlett attributed the company's ability to raise capital in a difficult environment and win a CRC-P grant to the strength of its technology.
"Surgery continues to be the only curative therapy for most solid tumor cancers, with the best outcomes when they are confined to a primary tumor and nearby lymph nodes. However, even in these early-stage patients, identifying and removing high-risk lymph nodes is a challenge, especially in upper gastrointestinal cancers which have high rates of cancer recurrence and poor survival.
"Ferronova's proprietary iron-oxide nanoparticle platform and Renew's Verdye (Indocyanine Green) infrared dye were successfully tested in first human trials at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, Australia. The new funding will be applied to expanding the trial program to brain and gastric-esophageal cancers, which have among the poorest outcomes of all solid tumors."
Declan Cassells, Managing Director at Renew, stated that one of the factors that drew Renew to invest in Ferronova was the company's novel approach to treating the most difficult gastrointestinal and brain cancers.
"Ferronova and Renew have a common mission to improve patient outcomes through image guided surgery. We believe that through this investment we will accelerate the clinical programs and approvals of Renew's fluorescence dye combined with Ferronova's magnetic nanoparticles for surgical use in the treatment of cancers which have some of the worst survival rates, so that we can make this unique solution available to patients through our global distribution network."
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