Amsterdam-based scale-up Lumicks has received €20 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to accelerate the discovery of cancer immunotherapy drugs.
The venture debt funding will help Lumicks further develop and commercialize its cell avidity analyzer, a device with the potential to transform the way researchers study and develop treatments for Europe's second deadliest disease.
Lumicks' technology allows scientists to collect real-time data on the bonds between immune cells and cancer cells. Unlike traditional methods based on indirect biomarkers, the analyzer measures the actual strength and duration of these interactions directly and in real time. This is crucial to finding out how well these immune cells can attack and destroy tumors, leading to more effective cancer treatments.
The z-Movi Cell Avidity Analyzer is small but could have a big impact on cancer research. Photo credit: Lumicks
“By providing deeper insights into cellular interactions, our tools enable researchers to make faster and more informed decisions, with the aim of improving success rates in clinical trials and accelerating the development of effective therapies,” said the company’s CEO, Hugo de Wit .
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Lumicks emerged from a research group at VU University Amsterdam 2014. The company currently employs 180 people in its offices in the Dutch capital.
In 2021, the company raised a significant $93 million (€85 million) in VC funding from the likes of Softbank and a California hedge fund Farallon Capital.
This latest round of funding will help Lumicks bring more of its analytical devices to market. The company's machines are already in use at several academic and commercial institutions, including Harvard University, Oxford University, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the laboratories of the US biotech company INmune Bio.
More and more companies are using advanced technologies such as AI, genomics and machine learning to improve the detection and treatment of cancer. For example, Dell and the University of Limerick (UL) in Ireland teamed up last year to move forward Cancer research with AI. The Swedish startup Neko Health has now developed one Modular body scanner that uses Algorithms to assess the risks of diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
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