ErVimmune, a preclinical biotechnology company focused on the development of cell therapies and cancer vaccines, has announced a total of 17m euros in new funding, allowing it to advance its cancer vaccine candidate.
The company’s lead candidate, ErVac01, is a heterologous vaccine formulation containing a collection of human endogenous retrovirus (HERV)-derived epitopes, designed to cover the majority of the worldwide population in terms of HLA alleles. The selection of antigens shared across multiple patients and tumours means that the vaccine could be created as a ready-to-use product, rather than needing to be personalised for each individual patient.
The vaccine is designed to treat tumours that are unresponsive to current immunotherapies – also known as ‘cold’ tumours – in diseases such as triple-negative breast cancer and ovarian cancer. ErVimmune hopes that the funding will allow advancement into a first-in-human clinical trial of ErVac01 to assess its safety and immunogenicity.
Additionally, the funding will allow ErVimmune to access non-dilutive funding from Bpifrance and the France 2030 programme. Participants in the funding round included Seventure Partners and SPRIM Global Investments.
ErVimmune has been given financial support from Bpifrance, Cancéropôle Lyon Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) since it was founded. It has also been supported by medical and technology organisations that include the Paris Saclay Cancer Cluster (PSCC) in 2024 and the NETVA programme in 2025.
Isabelle de Crémoux, CEO and managing partner at Seventure Partners, said: “Advancing ErVac01 into the clinic is a decisive step toward translating this innovative vaccine platform into tangible benefits for patients.”
“This funding marks a critical milestone in bringing our off-the-shelf cancer vaccine to the clinic,” added Professor Stéphane Depil, founder and board member of ErVimmune. “Our approach has the potential to transform treatment options for patients with difficult-to-treat cancers.”
