In February 2016, the technology fund run by NCL Innovation, UK’s leading early stage technology investor, announced its support of TC BioPharm (TCB), directly investing seed-finance of £500k from a fund focused on cutting edge immunotherapy research. Equity funds were subsequently increased by an additional £1m investment from NCL’s syndicate partners.
This Scotland-based technology company is focused on developing treatments for a variety of cancers and severe viral infections via an innovative immunotherapy process, where the body’s immune system is utilised to fight disease.
TCB’s lead product ImmunicCell® uses T lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell or killer cell) that have been grown in culture and specifically activated to target and kill cancerous tissue and infectious diseases.
NCL’s investment round in 2016 enabled TC BioPharm to initiate clinical trials, treating patients with various cancer types, including melanoma, lung and kidney cancer.
The investment was made by via NCL’s Discovery Park Technology Investment Fund. It forms part of the £9m total raised by TC BioPharm over the last 12 months which has attracted a variety of private and institutional investors, including the Scottish Investment Bank and Japanese pharma company NIPRO.