OncoImmunity is a bioinformatics company providing unique machine-learning software to identify tumor-specific mutations that can be targeted by a patient’s own immune system (known as neoantigens). The OncoImmunity solution is important because recent breakthroughs in the field of Immuno-Oncology (I-O) such as the development of checkpoint inhibitors and personalized cancer vaccines, clearly demonstrate that a patient’s immune system can be harnessed to successfully treat cancer.
The cost of identifying tumor-specific mutations in a patient’s cancer using next-generation sequencing (NGS) is now trivial and this technology will be key to enabling truly personalized immunotherapies to be developed in a technically and economically feasible manner.
However, the remaining challenge that currently limits the field, and which is addressed by the OncoImmunity solution, is predicting which tumor-specific mutations can stimulate a patient’s immune system i.e. are immunogenic. Using NGS data as input, the OncoImmunity software enables accurate patient selection for cancer immunotherapy and can identify optimal targets for personalized cancer vaccines & cell therapies in a clinically actionable time frame.
Beginning from this first product offering, OncoImmunity has the vision to become the world’s leading provider of software to guide cancer immunotherapy to improve survival rates for cancer patients. To achieve this OncoImmunity has assembled a growing team of world-class bioinformaticians, data scientists, and software engineers; developing its cutting-edge machine-learning technology that will help fulfill the promise of immunotherapy in the fight against cancer.
OncoImmunity’s technology will disrupt the I-O field by offering regulatory-compliant prediction software on a software-as-a-service basis (SaaS). This will allow big pharma, biotechnology, and immunotherapy companies of any size to access OncoImmunity’s cutting-edge prediction software.
The company is headquartered in an ideal scientific and entrepreneurial ecosystem to develop its technology at the Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator; adjacent to the Institute for Cancer Research and the Norwegian Radium Hospital. OncoImmunity is a privately held company, founded in 2014 by experienced bioinformatics scientists (Dr. Trevor Clancy and Professor Eivind Hovig), and an experienced immunologist with a business development background (Dr. Richard Stratford).
The company is backed by private financing from the Norwegian Radium Hospital Research Foundation, the Norwegian Cancer Society, STARTUPLAB, and Grotmol Solutions, in addition to a number of private software investors. The company is also supported by grants awarded from the Norwegian Research Council, Innovation Norway, and the EU. The company has already established both national and international collaborations and pilot projects to develop further proof-of-concept data and validate its software.