By Mary Welch

Therion Biologics Corp. raised $10.5 million to speed up development of its seven cancer vaccines currently in Phase I and Phase II trials.

"It's a tough environment now and we are pleased that we raised about $500,000 more than we were seeking, and that we attracted three new investors in addition to some of our current shareholders," said Dennis Panicali, president and CEO.

He declined to say how much equity was involved in this round.

The lead investor was new to the company, Sofinov, a subsidiary of the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, in Montreal. Other new investors were Pacific Horizon Ventures, of Seattle, and BioVentures Investors, of Worcester, Mass.

"Sofinov is a believer in the field of cancer vaccines, and the area is gaining momentum," said Panicali. "We have a number of products in the clinic where we will have significant data being released in the next two years. I think Sofinov wanted to get in on this earlier than later."

Therion, based in Cambridge, Mass., combines live recombinant pox virus vectors with tumor-specific antigens, co-stimulatory molecules and immune-modulating proteins.

"We have the ability to put multiple genes in vectors so that the cancer vaccines can, and do contain multiple tumor antigens and immune modulating proteins," Panicali said. "We can prime and then boost the immune system over time."

Prostvac, for prostate cancer, is the furthest along of the company's vaccines, followed shortly behind with TBC-CEA for colorectal and lung cancers, both in Phase II trials. In Phase I studies are rV-MUC1, for breast cancer, and a family of four vaccines targeted for melanoma.

The Phase II data is expected next year, but Panicali did not set a timetable for a potential new drug application filing.

"We can quickly create vaccines based on our vectors, which means that we can quickly and relatively inexpensively get to human trials," he said. "That's a real advantage. We have a broad portfolio of products going through the clinical process for a company of our size - 35 people."

Existing stockholders that participated included SR One Ltd., of West Conshohocken, Pa.; H&Q Healthcare Investors, of Boston; H&Q Life Science Investors, of Boston; New York Life Insurance Co., of New York; Loeb Investors, of New York; Venture Capital Fund of America, of New York Northwood Ventures, of Syosset, N.Y.; Singapore BioInnovations, of Redwood City, Calif.; and Sidney Knafel, an individual from New York.