Cancer’s Achilles Heel? UChicago Startup Secures $7 Million to Develop Unique Treatment

Onchilles Pharma recently closed its Series A funding round, bringing in approximately $7 million, including a $500,000 investment from the University of Chicago’s Startup Investment Fund.

Cofounded by UChicago Associate Professor of Ben May Department of Cancer Research, Lev Becker, and LYZZ Capital Partner, Court Turner, the company is developing first-in-class medicines that are designed to be selective for cancer cells and non-toxic to normal cells and tissues.

With early, but intriguing data, the company in 2017 participated in the George Shultz Innovation Fund – taking home $150,000 for their potential cancer treatment. This investment was used to further develop the technology and led to a Seed round, which totaled $500,000.

“The goal was to continue developing the technology and answer questions that venture capitalists and pharma were asking of us, given that our technology was pretty novel,” said Becker, noting that it was not a small list of questions to answer. “As that proceeded, we started breaking down barriers, which brought us to discussions around Series A financing,” he added.

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