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Avidicure

Biotech & Life Sciences · Oegstgeest, Netherlands · Founded 2022

Avidicure is a Netherlands-based biotechnology firm, founded in 2022 by Govert Schouten and Robert Friesen, that is developing a new class of antibody therapies for oncology. The company launched in April 2025 with a significant $50 million (€44 million) seed financing round led by EQT Life Sciences, with participation from investors including Kurma Partners, BioGeneration Ventures, and others. The founding management team, which includes CEO Arthur Lahr, COO Dirk De Naeyer, CSO Robert Friesen, and CBO Govert Schouten, brings extensive experience from executive roles at successful European biotech companies like Crucell, Ablynx, and Kiadis. This collective expertise in drug discovery, development, and commercialization underpins the company's strategic direction. The team claims to have created their core technology entirely from scratch. Avidicure's core business revolves around its proprietary "AVC-Booster" platform, which engineers multifunctional, dual agonistic antibodies. These therapies are designed to activate and modulate immune cells directly within the tumor microenvironment, harnessing both the innate and adaptive immune systems to fight cancer. The business model is focused on the research and development of these novel drug candidates, with the goal of progressing them through clinical trials and ultimately to market. The company's technology is built on decades of expertise in antibody engineering, in-silico protein design, and immunology. The AVC-Booster product is engineered to be functional only when it engages with tumor cells, a feature called avidity engineering. This localized activation aims to stimulate a potent immune response directly at the cancer site, thereby enhancing efficacy while reducing the risk of systemic toxicity commonly associated with other immunotherapies. The platform's 'plug-and-play' design allows for the efficient development of multiple products targeting different cancer antigens. Avidicure's lead candidate, AVC-S-101, is a TROP2-targeting booster being developed for non-small cell lung cancer and other solid tumors. Preclinical data has shown that AVC-S-101 can improve tumor control in animal models and activate immune cells in human tumor samples. Keywords: antibody therapy, oncology, immunotherapy, AVC-Boosters, biopharmaceutical, cancer treatment, dual agonistic antibodies, avidity engineering, immune-modulating therapy, TROP2 target, non-small cell lung cancer, antibody engineering, protein design, monotherapy, tumor microenvironment, innate immunity, adaptive immunity, clinical development, EQT Life Sciences, biotechnology