Israel-based OncoHost closes $8M in Series B funding to provide personalized cancer therapy for more effective treatment

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OncoHost, a Binyamina, Israel-based clinical-stage biotechnology startup company developing personalized strategies to increase the success of cancer therapy, today announced it has closed an $8 million Series B funding round to match the right treatment to an individual cancer patient, increasing the effectiveness of immunotherapy and reducing harmful side-effects.

The funding round was led by OurCrowd, an investment platform built for accredited investors and institutions to invest in start-ups, early-stage companies, and venture funds. They were joined by a group of family offices and private investors.

Founded in 2017 by Dr. Dror Yeger and Yuval Shaked, OncoHost is a clinical-stage precision oncology startup, combining life-science research and advanced machine learning technology to develop personalized strategies for cancer patients. Clinical trials are currently focused on melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients and will soon expand to other indications. OncoHost’s technology is used to characterize, analyze, and predict patient response to treatment, enabling personalized treatment strategies with improved outcomes & reduced side effects.

OncoHost’s platform, PROphet, analyzes proteomic changes in patient blood samples to detect signs of resistance to cancer therapies in real-time, enabling biomarker-guided treatment planning for physicians, target discovery for drug development, and, ultimately, improved outcomes for patients.

PROphet will first be made available to healthcare providers who can use it to help assess how a specific patient may respond to a given treatment. This will aid the oncologist and patient in making informed decisions regarding treatment options, lines of therapy, potential combination treatments, and participation in clinical trials.

OncoHost said the funding will help to advance its AI-powered precision oncology platform and finance OncoHost’s ongoing clinical trials, open a US-based affiliate and prepare for the upcoming launch of PROphet, the company’s machine learning-based Host Response Profiling platform that combines proteomic analysis with AI to predict patient response to immunotherapy, providing clinicians with potential combination strategies to overcome treatment resistance.

“As the renowned entrepreneur Marc Andreesen said, ‘Software will the eat world,’ and OncoHost is proving that software will help eat cancer,” said OurCrowd CEO, Jon Medved. “We are excited about leading this important funding round for such a transformational company. OncoHost is demonstrating that smart software can take an already promising technology such as immunotherapy and make it so much smarter.”

“This investment round supports our mission to better predict response to immunotherapy and identify personalized treatment options for cancer patients, as we continue to expand our collaboration with pharma on clinical trials and drug development,” said Ofer Sharon, MD, CEO of OncoHost. “Proteomic analysis is allowing us to make great advances in personalized cancer care, and we are grateful to our investors for their support in the midst of this particularly challenging time of a global pandemic. The future of personalized cancer care is no longer a distant reality but within our reach. We look forward to what 2021 holds for OncoHost.”