Strike Pharma aims to use its proprietary Adaptable Drug Affinity Conjugate (ADACTM) technology to take precision medicine to a new level, enabling development of individualized immunotherapeutic treatments based on the genetic profile of each patient’s tumor. Such highly targeted treatments offer the potential to increase therapeutic efficacy and reduce dosage levels thereby minimizing the risk of side effects.
The foundations of Strike Pharma began in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Uppsala University, Sweden where Associate Professor Sara Mangsbo’s research team are focused on the development of new immunotherapies for the treatment of solid tumors.
In June 2019, Professor Mangsbo entered into a collaboration with the Drug Discovery and Development Platform at SciLifeLab – an institution for the advancement of molecular biosciences in Sweden.
The Drug Discovery and Development platform exists to support generation of small molecule and antibody leads for further progression into therapeutic applications. SciLifeLab provides a national resource of technologies and expertise for life scientists with the aim of bringing researchers together across traditional boundaries and fostering collaborations with industry, health care, public research organizations and international partners.
To support the first step in the project – verification of the innovative ADAC technology – and thereby generate a sound basis for the collaboration with SciLifeLab’s Drug Discovery and Development platform, a grant was awarded by UU Innovation. UU Innovation is a support organization at Uppsala University that helps researchers and students to assess the commercial potential of their ideas and provides support to find financing, training, networking and more.
In 2020, following the success of the SciLifeLab collaboration, Strike Pharma was founded with the aim of commercializing the company’s proprietary ADAC technology. In June 2021 the company successfully raised SEK 10 million to support extension of IP protection, commercial development and generation of data to lay the foundation for future clinical studies. In February 2022 a second financing round raised SEK 45M with Eir Ventures becoming lead investor, joined by Flerie Invest and existing investors Uppsala University Invest, Almi Invest, SLU Invest and Monesi Förvaltnings
Initially, Strike Pharma will focus on using its proprietary ADAC technology platform to develop novel, clinically-relevant candidates for immunotherapeutic treatment of solid tumors. However, the agnostic nature of the ADAC platform suggests that there is great potential to make a significant impact, across a wide variety of disease indications, within the rapidly developing field of precision medicine and individualized treatments