Elthera, a privately held biotechnology company, has demonstrated efficacy of its proprietary antibodies in tumor bearing animals.  

Dr. Anne Schmidt, Elthera CEO said, "We are very encouraged by these results demonstrating the efficacy of our antibodies in preclinical models of pancreatic and ovarian carcinomas, both areas where a large unmet medical need remains.  These results confirm the multiple publications demonstrating the role of L1CAM in the progression of cancer, and highlight the potential of L1CAM targeting therapies as new treatment for several cancer types expressing L1CAM."  Anne Schmidt also said, "After having successfully raised almost 2 M CHF in 2017, which has enabled us to generate these first POC data, we are now opening the Seed round and we are confident that we will reach our milestone of identifying the clinical candidate by end of 2018."

Prof Susanne Sebens, Head of the Institute of Experimental Cancer Research, University Kiel, Germany said: "As coordinator of the Kiel Oncology Network and principal investigator working for many years in the field of pancreatic cancer, I am highly impressed by the strong positive therapeutic effects obtained with the anti-L1CAM antibodies in the pancreatic study.  I consider L1CAM as a promising target for cancer therapy to improve the treatment of tumors with a high unmet medical need such as pancreatic cancer."

Pancreatic and ovarian cancer remain areas of large unmet medical need.  According to the American Cancer Society, every year, of 100 000 individuals, 12.5 new patients will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer with a 5-year relative survival, for all stages combined, of only 5%.  Every year, of 100 000 women, 11.5 new patients will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer with a 5-year relative survival, all stages combined, of 47%.

Elthera, a privately held biotechnology company based in Switzerland, is developing first in class antibody for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with cancer using a personalized health care approach.