iOx Therapeutics Limited

iOx Therapeutics is a biotechnology company headquartered in London, England and was founded in 2015 by Vincenzo Cerundolo.

iOX’s immunotherapy strategy against cancer was originally discovered through a partnership between the Ludwig Institute and Professor Cerundolo, director of the MRC Human Immunology Unit and head of the Department of Investigative Medicine at the University of Oxford. iOx plans to develop and commercialize synthetic lipid compounds discovered by Professor Cerundolo’s research team.

Preliminary research shows that the compounds activate invariant natural killer T-cells (iNKT cells), a distinct class of T-cell, understood to play an important role in anti-tumor immune responses. iNKT cells recognise lipid antigens on the tumor cell surface and in response produce large amounts of signaling molecules within hours of stimulation. Multiple immune system components such as dendritic cells, T-cell and B-cells are activated by iNKT cells which stimulates antigen-specific expansion of these cells.

iOx is working with SalvaRX to develop drug development strategies. SalvaRx holds 60.49% interest in iOx Therapeutics. In 2018 Portage agreed to acquire 100% of SalvaRx Limited.

iOx Therapeutics received investment from Portage Biotech to complete the manufacturing of lead immunotherapy candidate IMM60 to begin human trials. A second program, IMM65 is a nanoparticle formulation of IMM60 plus an NY-ESO-1 vaccine which is being developed with a European Union’s Horizon 2020 grant.