Nouscom lands €120M Series D to push cancer-prevention vaccine to pivotal trial
What's the deal? Swiss biotech Nouscom has raised €120 million ($135 million) in an oversubscribed Series D round to advance its lead cancer vaccine, NOUS-209, through a global, registration-enabling trial. M VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and Revelation PartnersDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → co-led the round, with new backers Angelini IndustriesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, the European Investment Bank, and Neva SGRDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
What's the endgame? NOUS-209 is an off-the-shelf neoantigen-based immunotherapy aimed at intercepting cancer in people with Lynch syndrome, an inherited condition that carries up to an 80% lifetime cancer risk. The approach targets prevention, not treatment of established tumors — a distinction central to the company's pitch.
Why now? The financing coincides with long-term data from a Phase 1b/2 trial, presented at the European Society of Medical Oncology congress in Madrid. All evaluable carriers dosed with NOUS-209 remained free of advanced adenomas and colorectal cancer after years one and two, alongside durable T-cell responses.
The US Food and Drug Administration has granted NOUS-209 Fast Track designation. Nouscom also reported positive Phase 2 results in 2025 for the vaccine combined with pembrolizumab in advanced colorectal cancer, giving the program a separate treatment setting.
By the numbers: The round sits in the 91st percentile among all-time Series D rounds for health companies based in Switzerland. It far exceeds Nouscom's earlier raises, including a €75.8 million Series C that closed in 2024.
What's the company saying? "Over two million LS carriers live with up to an 80% lifetime cancer risk and nothing to offer them but surveillance and surgery," said chief executive officer Marina Udier. "We built Nouscom to change that equation."
What could go wrong? The published Phase 1b/2 study enrolled 45 people and was not designed to prove prevention. The early signal is encouraging but preliminary, and the new trial must show the vaccine delivers clinically meaningful interception.
The signal: A ModernaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →-funded Lynch syndrome vaccine trial points to rising interest in cancer prevention, a field where efficacy is not yet established. Nouscom's raise is a sizable bet on whether a promising early signal can translate into a product that stops cancer before it starts.
Read more: endpoints.news
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
