France-based biopharmaceutical company Adcytherix has announced its launch with seed funding of €30m ($32.2m) aimed at developing new antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for cancer treatment.

The company will focus on the development of ADCs targeting diseases with significant unmet medical needs.

The financial injection marks a significant milestone for Adcytherix, which was founded by Jack Elands and Pontifax Venture Capital. Xavier Preville and Carsten Dehning are co-founders.

Jack Elands is CEO, Dehning is chief financial officer and Preville is research and preclinical development vice-president and head.

The seed funding round was spearheaded by Pontifax and received support from a consortium of top-tier life science investors, including RA Capital Management, Pureos Bioventures and Dawn Biopharma — a platform under the control of global investment firm KKR.

The company's management team also contributed to the seed funding.

Elands stated: “Our new company has as its objective to meet the most urgent need of patients by developing a next generation of ADCs. We are excited that the top tier investors and business partners that supported us before joined us again to help us achieve our goals.”

Adcytherix also welcomed new members to its supervisory committee: Ran Nussbaum and Ohad Hammer from Pontifax, Iyona Rajkomar of Dawn Biopharma, Ximing Ding of Pureos Bioventures and Matthew Hammond of RA Capital Management.

Nussbaum stated: “We are excited to be part of this new adventure with a superb leadership that worked with us before.

“ADCs will play a major role in the future of oncology. The team that is leading the company and the syndicate that will support Adcytherix aim to build a well-differentiated franchise in the field.”

The Adcytherix founding team previously established and sold Emergence Therapeutics to Eli Lilly and Company.