Achilles Therapeutics

Founded: 2016
CEO: Iraj Ali
Founders: Karl Peggs
Charles Swanton
Mark Lowdell
Sergio Quezada
% Shareholding: 25%
Stage: Clinical
Number of employees: 250+
Listed: NASDAQ
(March 2021)
Clinical trials: 2

Unless stated all financials at 31 December 2022

Achilles website

Achilles Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel cancer immunotherapies targeting clonal neoantigens: protein markers unique to each individual that are expressed on the surface of every cancer cell.

Achilles uses DNA sequencing data from each patient, together with a proprietary bioinformatics platform, to identify clonal neoantigens specific to that patient and enable the development of personalised cell therapies. Targeting multiple clonal neoantigens that are present on all cancer cells, but not on healthy cells, allows individualised treatments to target and destroy tumours without harming healthy tissues.

Achilles has built a world-leading bioinformatics platform to identify clonal neoantigens from each patient’s unique tumour profile. Their proprietary PELEUS^TM platform was developed from their co-founder Professor Charles Swanton’s academic TRACERx bioinformatics pipeline and has been validated using Achilles’ exclusive access to the TRACERx sequence data.

Investment thesis

TILs have shown convincing efficacy in solid tumours*
Leveraging clonal neoantigens to develop patient specific immunotherapies to increase response rates and reduce risk of relapse

Unmet medical need

Lung cancer has limited treatment options and is the leading cause of cancer deaths

Market opportunity

Over 236,000 patients expected to be diagnosed with lung cancer in the United States in 2022**
In 2022, over 197,000 patients are expected to be diagnosed with melanoma in the US***

Key risks

Highly innovative concept in emerging space
Complex manufacturing
Increasing competition

* Source: Rosenberg et al 2011 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3131487/pdf/nihms286994.pdf

** Source - https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/lungb.html

*** Source - https://www.cancer.org/content/dam/cancer-org/research/cancer-facts-and-statistics/annual-cancer-facts-and-figures/2022/2022-cancer-facts-and-figures.pdf

Key risks are Syncona team view

Research Pre-clinical Clinical

Achilles Therapeutics

cNet - Non-small cell lung cancer
cNeT - Melanoma

Syncona team

Martin Murphy

Martin is Chair of Syncona Investment Management Ltd. He co-founded Syncona in 2012 alongside The Wellcome Trust. Since then, Martin has been closely involved in the foundation and development of multiple Syncona companies, including: Achilles Therapeutics, Autolus Therapeutics, OMass Therapeutics, Quell Therapeutics, Anaveon, Resolution Therapeutics, and Clade Therapeutics. He is Chairman of Quel…

View Martin's biography

Qualification

PhD

Elisa Petris

Elisa is a Lead Partner of Syncona Investment Management Ltd. She is a Director on the Board of Quell Therapeutics and was previously on the Board of former portfolio companies Blue Earth Diagnostics and Neogene. She was closely involved in the foundation of both Quell and Blue Earth, including their operational and strategic set-up. Previously, she was a Senior Associate at Michel Dyens & Co.…

View Elisa's biography

Qualification

PhD