OurCrowd leads $8M Series B in Israeli personalized cancer therapy startup

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Israeli startup OncoHost leverages AI technologies to better understand oncology patients' unique response to treatment, in an effort to combat growing cases of resistance to therapy...

Israeli startup OncoHost, an AI-powered personalized oncology platform, announced the completion of an $8 million Series B funding round. The investment was led by OurCrowd, in addition to participation from family offices and private investors.

"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

"Help eat cancer"

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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 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.

"As the renowned entrepreneur Marc Andreesen said, ‘Software will eat the world,’ and OncoHost is proving that software will help eat cancer… OncoHost is demonstrating that smart software can take an already promising technology such as immunotherapy and make it so much smarter,” said OurCrowd CEO Jon Medved.

OncoHost's Machine Learning algorithm helps break down oncology patients' unique response to treatment, helping determine optimal treatment going forward. 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.

Sharon added: “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.”

OncoHost was founded in 2017, and reports that the funding will be reinvested into ongoing clinical trials, open a U.S. affiliate, and prep the upcoming launch of PROphet - initially will be made available to healthcare providers.