Nanoligent, a spin-off from the Institut de Recerca Sant Pau (IR Sant Pau) and the Universitat Autnoma de Barcelona (UAB), has closed a €12 million funding round led by Inveready to advance the development of its oncology candidate NNL1524. The company hopes to complete its first evaluation in patients with solid tumors.
The transaction was led by Inveready Biotech IV and included participation from CDTI through the Innvierte program, Clave Capital, and existing investors i&i Biotech Fund I, Nanolinvest (an investment vehicle of members of Italian Angels for Growth and Doorway), and AVANTECA Partners.
The funds will be used to complete the regulatory preclinical development of NNL1524, initiate a Phase Ia clinical study in patients with solid tumors, and scale up production by optimizing manufacturing processes.
Nanoligent was founded as a spin-off of IR Sant Pau and UAB following a long-standing collaboration between the Oncogenesis and Antitumor Drugs Group at IR Sant Pau, led by Dr. Ramon Mangues, and the Nanobiotechnology Group at UAB’s Institute of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, co-directed by Drs. Antonio Villaverde and Esther Vázquez. Both groups are part of CIBER-BBN.
This research line at Sant Pau, focused on the CXCR4 target, builds on more than fifteen years of work aimed at developing nanomedicines capable of selectively directing therapeutic agents to tumor cells with high expression of this receptor. The center and UAB, together with CIBER, are also co-owners of joint patents related to targeted delivery methods for CXCR4-positive cells, resulting from this extensive research trajectory. Five of these patents have been licensed to Nanoligent and form the basis of this development.
«The case of Nanoligent demonstrates how the basic and translational research we conduct at Sant Pau can have a direct impact on the development of new cancer therapies,» says Dr. Ramon Mangues. «The knowledge generated in the laboratory has enabled the creation of a technology with enormous clinical potential and, at the same time, the establishment of a company that drives its translation to patients».
The candidate NNL1524 is a CXCR4-targeted cytotoxic nanoconjugate, a membrane receptor involved in tumorigenesis, cell proliferation, and metastasis, which is overexpressed in various hematologic cancers and solid tumors such as colon, lung, and breast cancer.
In preclinical models, NNL1524 has shown significant tumor regression as monotherapy and a favorable safety profile, reinforcing its potential as a new therapeutic option in areas with unmet clinical needs.
Nanoligent’s progress represents a tangible example of knowledge transfer from Sant Pau’s biomedical research to the biotechnology sector. The results generated by Dr. Mangues’ group have laid the foundation for a technology with real therapeutic potential, now being developed within a spin-off company with international projection.
Nanoligent is a biotechnology company specializing in the development of targeted nanodrugs for cancer treatment, based on a pioneering technological platform of protein–drug nanoconjugates. The company is led by Dr. Montserrat Cano (CEO) and Dr. Manuel Rodríguez (Chairman of the Board of Directors), both with extensive experience in drug development and biotechnology project management.
