Infinitopes Raises £11m Seed to Launch First-in-Human Oesophageal Cancer Vaccine Trial

Infinitopes, the Oxford-based clinical-stage cancer vaccine company spun out of Cancer Research UK and the University of Oxford, has completed the second close of its seed financing round, securing £11m and bringing total seed capital raised to £26m. The round was co-led by Octopus Ventures and new investor Amplify Bio, with Macmillan Cancer Support joining as a new backer alongside existing investors Cancer Research Horizons and Manta Ray Ventures. The close coincides with the launch of the company's first-in-human Phase I/IIa VISTA trial of its lead candidate, ITOP1, a therapeutic cancer vaccine designed to prevent post-surgical recurrence in oesophageal cancer.

Oesophageal cancer presents one of oncology's most pressing areas of unmet need. More people are diagnosed with the disease in the UK each year than receive effective long-term treatment, and surgical resection — while the primary intervention — leaves many patients at high risk of recurrence. Current standard-of-care options offer little in the way of targeted immunological protection once surgery is complete, leaving a significant gap that Infinitopes is seeking to address through precision vaccinology.

Infinitopes' platform combines immunopeptidomics — identifying peptides presented on HLA molecules via mass spectrometry — with computational prioritisation to select tumour antigens most likely to be relevant across a broad patient population. Its lead candidate, ITOP1, is an off-the-shelf therapeutic vaccine designed to generate CD8+ cytotoxic T-cell responses against shared tumour antigens. This population-level approach, rather than personalised neoantigen targeting, enables scalable manufacturing and faster clinical development. The VISTA trial will be conducted across multiple UK NHS university cancer centres, evaluating ITOP1 in a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled design.

The company has built in-house expertise spanning antigen discovery, immunology, vaccinology, biomanufacturing, and clinical operations. It has previously won an Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway (ILAP) innovation passport from the MHRA, alongside two maximum-size, non-dilutive awards from Innovate UK. These credentials have supported Infinitopes' rapid progress from early research to clinical readiness within a few years of founding, a pace that has drawn significant attention from specialist life sciences investors on both sides of the Atlantic.

The participation of Amplify Bio — a US West Coast biofund with a focus on the intersection of AI and biology — signals growing international confidence in the UK cancer vaccine pipeline. Macmillan Cancer Support's involvement adds a patient-advocacy dimension to the cap table, reinforcing the therapeutic rationale. Infinitopes plans to share early findings from the VISTA trial at major scientific conferences later in 2026, a milestone that could further de-risk the programme and catalyse follow-on financing.

Sources

• Soapbox VC – Infinitopes seed round
• PR Newswire – Infinitopes expands seed financing to $35m
• European Biotechnology Magazine – Oxford-based cancer vaccine company Infinitopes closes seed round