University of York spin-out secures £550,000 investment in hunt for cancer treatments
A University of York spin-out company has secured £550,000 investment from White Rose Technology Seedcorn Fund and Yorkshire Cancer Research (YCR) to develop new treatments for cancer.
This investment gives Pro-Cure Therapeutics Ltd the ability to translate scientific knowledge generated in the laboratory into the first steps towards cancer stem cell derived treatments for prostate cancer.
The scientists involved in the research believe that stem cells are the cause of prostate cancer and they are confident that their work will eventually lead to the development of a cure for the disease. This leading edge research has created a powerful drug discovery “toolkit” with a definitive catalogue of valuable new cancer stem cell drug targets and Pro-Cure is in advanced discussions with major Pharmaceutical companies on how to exploit this work.
Pro-Cure is a spin-out company from the YCR Cancer Research Unit in the Department of Biology at the University of York. It was founded in 2001 with funding from the White Rose Technology Seedcorn Fund, which is now providing follow-on funding of £250,000 whilst Yorkshire Cancer Research will be investing a further £300,000.The funding will be used to purchase new equipment, fund further scientific research and to commercialise the research of Professor Norman Maitland and his world-leading prostate cancer research team.
Dr John Knights, Pro-Cure's CEO said:
“This investment is an important milestone in Pro-Cure's development and supports its aims of developing the next-generation of superior therapies for prostate and other cancers. We look forward to an exciting and challenging future and to being able to extend and improve the quality of life for cancer patients whilst at the same time growing value for our shareholders.”
David Milroy from the White Rose Technology Seedcorn Fund said:
“We have long recognised the value of Pro-Cure's technology platform and specifically the company's ability to leverage a very novel and powerful strategy for identifying effective cancer therapies. This latest injection of funding from WRTSF and YCR will help Pro-Cure to transition from a technology company into a drug discovery and development company focusing on oncology.”
For more information about Pro-Cure Therapeutics visit
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8 November 2007 |