Oxford Vacmedix

Oxford Vacmedix (OVM) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company spun out from the University of Oxford's Department of Oncology, developing a new generation of therapeutic cancer vaccines using a proprietary platform technology called Recombinant Overlapping Peptides (ROPs). The ROP approach — invented by Professor Shisong Jiang and licensed exclusively to Oxford Vacmedix — works by expressing overlapping fragments of a target protein in bacteria, producing a vaccine that triggers both CD8 killer T-cell and CD4 helper T-cell immune responses simultaneously. This dual mode of action significantly enhances immunogenicity and is applicable across virtually all HLA types, making it a genuinely universal, off-the-shelf approach.

Oxford Vacmedix's lead immunotherapy is OVM-200, which targets survivin — a protein overexpressed in over 90% of solid tumours that cancer cells use to evade the immune system. OVM-200 has completed Phase 1 clinical trials at leading UK hospitals, demonstrating an excellent safety profile and very strong immune responses, with early signs of clinical activity including stable disease in end-stage patients. The company's second asset, OVM-100, is a therapeutic HPV vaccine targeting cervical and head-and-neck cancers. Both are being developed as monotherapies and in combination with checkpoint inhibitor immune-oncology agents.

Oxford Vacmedix has raised over £3 million in its most recent funding round from Prostate Cancer Research, Dx&Vx (a Korean KOSDAQ-listed pharma company) and business angels, and is now seeking Series B funding to advance OVM-200 into Phase 2 trials and take OVM-100 into Phase 1. The company has also received Innovate UK funding for novel T-cell potency assay development and holds a strong IP position with no other companies using the ROP approach in cancer vaccines.