Fusix Biotech

Founders: Jennifer Altomonte (CEO), Teresa Krabbe (Program Manager), Marian Wiegand (CTO, Head of CMC), Markus Gerhard (Medical Director)
Founding Date: 2022
Funding: 1.6M € in total from EXIST Forschungstransfer; m4 Award; 100k Convertible Loan
Offering: Fusix Biotech is offering a safe and effective treatment alternative that can address the common resistance mechanisms in solid cancers and provide durable responses in patients suffering from aggressive solid cancers for which they currently face a poor prognosis. Their therapies are suitable for intravenous administration to treat a multitude of metastatic tumor indications.

Introducing Fusix Biotech

Fusix Biotech is a preclinical-stage life science company that is developing a therapeutic platform to revolutionize immune-oncology for patients suffering from aggressive solid cancers. They are a spin-out from the TUM University Hospital, Klinikum rechts der Isar, founded by 4 co-founders with a shared vision to bring their innovation from the lab to patients where they can make a real-world impact.

The Product Fusix Biotech is offering:

"Fusix is developing a precision-engineered viral vector platform, InFUSETM, which delivers a multi-mechanistic therapy to address the common therapy resistance mechanisms in solid cancers. InFUSE directly kills tumor cells, activates the patient’s own immune system to recognize and attack the cancer, and encodes for therapeutic payloads to induce additional therapeutic effects. Fusix is currently transitioning their lead development candidate, FUSE102, towards clinical development as an intravenously infused therapy for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma."

Their entry point when joining TUM Venture Lab Healthcare:

"We joined the TUM Venture Lab Healthcare after we had already obtained pre-seed financing from EXIST-Forschungstransfer and the m4 Award, and we had already established a preclinical proof of concept of or technology."

Insight into one of their founding challenges:

"Founding per se was not a challenge, but we have certainly faced numerous challenges along way in navigating all of the legal, administrative, technological, and business-related aspects of getting a start-up off the ground. By far, the biggest challenge for us has been in securing VC financing, which will be critical in enabling the manufacturing scale-up and preparation for a first-in-human clinical trial."

Looking back: How TUM Venture Lab Healthcare was able to support Fusix Biotech in the past:

"We have mainly benefitted from the numerous events organized by the TUM Venture Lab Healthcare, including legal office hours, panel discussions, and expert sessions. In addition, we have been able to leverage the VL network to gain contacts with VCs and other founding teams, and we have also sometimes used the meeting rooms at the VL for meetings with external guests."

Fusix Biotech's key advice for Founders:

"Our advice to other founders is to be flexible and open minded, surround yourself with people who are smarter and more successful than you, listen to feedback (and your gut!), and remember to find value in the journey, rather than always chasing the endpoint as a measure of success and validation."