Inkocell Therapeutics secures CHF 150,000 from Venture Kick

EPFL spin-off Inkocell Therapeutics, a Swiss biotech startup developing next-generation cell therapies, has secured CHF 150,000 from Venture Kick. The funding will accelerate the development of Inkocell’s first-in-class NK-tailored CAR (chimeric antigen receptor) technology, designed to create effective, safe, off-the-shelf, and affordable therapies for patients with life-threatening diseases.

Over the past decade, engineered T-cell therapies (CAR-T) have transformed cancer treatment and brought cures to some patients who previously had no options. But these therapies are complex to manufacture, extremely costly, and can trigger dangerous side effects. Not all patients respond, leaving a large group still without effective treatments.

Inkocell Therapeutics is addressing these challenges by engineering a new type of therapy based on Natural Killer (NK) cells—immune cells naturally specialized in detecting and destroying abnormal or diseased cells. By equipping NK cells with its proprietary CAR technology, Inkocell is building therapies that are scalable, safer, and available “off the shelf” without the need for personalized manufacturing.

Inkocell’s first programmes focus on:

• B-cell malignancies: these are blood cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma, which together affect over 500,000 patients every year worldwide. While CAR-T therapies have helped some patients, many relapse or cannot access them because of high costs and limited availability.
• Solid tumors with therapy resistance: more than 10 million patients annually face tumors protected by the tumor stroma—the “shield” of normal cells and tissue around a tumor that makes it harder for treatments to reach the cancer. Inkocell’s CAR-NK approach is designed to break through this shield and attack the cancer directly.

Beyond oncology, the same NK-tailored CAR technology could be applied to autoimmune diseases (where the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues) and fibrotic diseases (characterized by organ-damaging scar tissue), opening the door to treatments for millions more patients.

With the CHF 150,000 investment from Venture Kick, Inkocell will strengthen its business development and accelerate preparations for clinical testing, bringing its therapies closer to patients.

➡️ Source: Venture Kick Press Release. 📸 ©Inkocell Therapeutics. Mathieu Girardin, CEO, and Angela Madurga Alonso, CSO.