NeoPhore Announces Scientific Founder Dr Alberto Bardelli Awarded €2.5 million European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant

NeoPhore Announces Scientific Founder Dr Alberto Bardelli Awarded €2.5 million European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant

22 April, Cambridge, UK – NeoPhore Limited, a small molecule neoantigen immuno-oncology company, today announced that its scientific founder, Dr Alberto Bardelli Department of Oncology, University of Turin, has been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant of €2.5 million for a 5 year programme ‘Targeting DNA repair pathways, sparking anti-cancer immunity’.

Presented by the European Research Council (ERC), the ERC Advanced Grants are highly prestigious awards given in Europe and are aimed at established researchers who have made important scientific achievements in the last 10 years of their careers. 

NeoPhore is a third-party collaborator on the ERC Advanced Grant and the Company will continue to work closely with its founder Dr Bardelli in the discovery and development of novel first-in-class small molecule drugs targeting the DNA mismatch repair (MMR) pathway to treat cancer.  This project will test the hypothesis that therapeutic inactivation of DNA repair pathways in cancer cells can be exploited for patient benefit by reawakening an anti-tumour immune response.  The collaboration under the grant will specifically enable NeoPhore to provide access to its drug discovery and development platform for the biological evaluation of MMR pathway inhibitors by Dr Bardelli.

Dr Matthew Baker, Chief Executive Officer of NeoPhore, added: “NeoPhore and its collaborators welcome the award of this grant to Dr Bardelli which is in recognition of his significant achievements. Ultimately, NeoPhore’s goal is to generate next-generation immuno-oncology therapeutics to improve clinical outcomes for cancer patients. This grant will allow us to conduct further research into the concept that inhibition of MMR in tumours generates neoantigens that the patients’ own immune system can target with a powerful anti-tumour response.”