Michel Detheux : "The research aid of more than €6 million granted to us by the Walloon government allowed us to obtain proof of the concept among humans by starting clinical studies for a first candidate drug."

iTeos, a spin-off of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) and the Duve Institute at the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL), obtained €3 million from LICR, Hunza Ventures SCA, Life Sciences Research Partners, Vives Louvain Technology Fund and other private investors. This funding completed a non-dilutive subsidy of €6 million obtained from the Walloon Government in 2011.

Cancer immunotherapy helps to stimulate the immune system so that it specifically destroys tumours and limits the risk of relapse with very few side-effects. However, the success of immunotherapy is limited by the capacity of some tumours to block the immune response, a phenomenon called immunosuppression. Scientists are now attempting to understand the mechanisms responsible for immunosuppression in order to design strategies that can overcome this.

This is precisely the mission of iTeos: to develop "small molecule" type immunomodulator drugs that are able to increase the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy and stimulate the spontaneous immune response against tumours.