- Pending final negotiation, grant will fund up to 20 patients in the OCTOPOD-IV Phase 2a expansion study of THEO-260 in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer
- Competitive funding award highlights Theolytics’ innovative science and strong clinical development plan
- Application coordinated with several major international clinical centres and world-class partners
Oxford UK, March 4, 2026. Theolytics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing next-generation oncolytic immunotherapies, has been awarded, pending final negotiation, €8 million in non-dilutive grant funding from Horizon Europe 2025, the European Union’s flagship research and innovation funding programme. Horizon Europe 2025 is supporting high-impact clinical-stage projects aimed at improving patient outcomes and strengthening Europe’s scientific leadership. The grant to Theolytics will provide significant financial support to advance the company’s Phase 2 OCTOPOD-IV clinical trial evaluating THEO-260, its novel therapeutic candidate designed to address unmet needs in patients with advanced ovarian cancer.
Positioned to tackle the complex, immune-suppressed nature of advanced solid tumours, THEO-260 is an oncolytic immunotherapy designed for effective killing of both cancer cells and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), while inducing immune activation. Platinum-resistant ovarian cancer represents a prototype of a broader category of stroma-rich solid tumours for which THEO-260 is being developed.
Margaret Duffy, CSO and Co-founder of Theolytics, said, “Our collective success with this grant award reflects the extraordinary work being done by the team at Theolytics, and the calibre of our clinical and translational partner centres. The Horizon Europe award validates both the scientific rationale behind our THEO-260 programme and the huge potential of its novel oncolytic and ‘CAF-lytic’ mechanism to address a significant unmet need in stroma-rich solid cancers. By integrating advanced translational analyses into our clinical trial design, we will clinically demonstrate the differentiated mechanism of action of THEO-260 and provide key data to advance this programme and deliver true impact for cancer patients.”
This highly competitive Horizon Europe 2025 award follows a rigorous grant review process and highlights the company’s innovative science, strong technical area expertise, clear clinical development plan and the opportunity for THEO-260 to address a clear unmet patient need.
The grant application was coordinated with several major partners, expert clinical and translational centres involved in the OCTOPOD-IV study and includes the University of Navarra, Catalan Institute of Oncology in Spain; the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, Canada; and The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in London, UK. Two thirds of the funds will be received directly by Theolytics to advance the OCTOPOD-IV Phase 2a expansion trial, and the other third will be deployed directly to the partners in support of their work on the trial.
OCTOPOD-IV (NCT06618235) is a first-in-human, multi-centre trial to assess safety, tolerability and preliminary efficacy of THEO-260 in patients with high-grade serous ovarian or endometrioid cancer. In addition, the trial is designed to determine the recommended Phase 2 dose and demonstrate THEO-260’s differentiated cancer/cancer-associated fibroblast-lytic mechanism of action in patients through comprehensive biomarker analysis.
Prof Alan Melcher, Professor of Translational Immunotherapy at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, said, “The differentiated mechanism of action – targeting the stroma and inducing immune activity in the suppressed tumour microenvironment (TME) - of this oncolytic immunotherapy THEO-260 offers the potential to provide an important new treatment option for patients with advanced solid tumours. We are pleased to support the OCTOPOD-IV study, for which the ICR will provide important translational data to assess this novel and promising approach.”
Dr Antonio González, Director of the Department of Medical Oncology and Cancer Center at the Clínica Universidad de Navarra, and President of the Spanish Cooperative Group for Gynaecological Cancer Research, added, “We see many women with advanced platinum-resistant ovarian cancer, whose life expectancy is typically only a year or less. There remains a serious lack of effective treatment options for these women, and so we are hopeful that THEO-260 may bring an advance in therapy that will improve and extend the lives of our patients.”
Recruitment at UK and Spanish clinical sites for OCTOPOD-IV is ongoing and will now expand into further international centres (including additional sites in Spain and Canada). A second clinical trial (OCTOPOD-IP) in the US, which will investigate intraperitoneal (IP) delivery of THEO-260 to advanced ovarian cancer patients, has also been initiated in collaboration with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (NCT07211659).
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About Theolytics
Theolytics is working to develop best-in-class oncolytic immunotherapies. The company has pioneered a new approach to develop efficacious, targeted adenoviral candidates suitable for direct and systemic intravenous delivery.
The company is focused on the advancement of its lead programme THEO-260 in clinical trials with the ambition of providing better outcomes for patients with stroma-rich solid cancers, for whom current treatment options are limited. Additional pipeline programmes in preclinical development include novel candidates developed for colorectal cancer and haematological malignancies where there remains significant unmet need.
Theolytics was founded in 2017, is headquartered in Oxford UK, and is backed by international life sciences investors Taiho Ventures, M Ventures, Oxford Science Enterprises, Epidarex Capital, Sound Bioventures, BGF and Oxford University Innovation.
For more information, please see our website www.theolytics.com
About Horizon Europe 2025 Programme
The ‘Boosting the translation of biotech research into innovative health therapies’ topic, which forms part of the wider Horizon Europe 2025 Health initiative, is designed to accelerate the translation of promising biotech research into clinical development and aims to deliver the following outcomes:
- Faster access to innovative therapies for healthcare providers, researchers and patients
- Increased number of clinical trials evaluating novel biotech therapeutic approaches conducted within the European Union
- Strengthened competitiveness of small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) in the EU and Associated Countries within the health biotech sector
More information on the Horizon Europe Health initiative can be found here.
Contact
Theolytics
David Apelian, CEO
MEDiSTRAVA
Frazer Hall, Mark Swallow
