Roca Therapeutics was created in Nice in 2021. The company comes from the work of four researchers from the Nice Cancer and Aging Research Institute (IRCAN) and the Nice Chemistry Institute (ICN), who have worked for more than 10 years to understand the mechanisms of resistance to treatments in cancers, and more precisely in a very aggressive cancer, uveal melanoma (eye cancer). From their research, a patented molecule, RCT001, was born in 2019, then the biotech Roca Therapeutics in 2021.
In 2022, Roca Therapeutics will carried out a seed round led by 3B Future Fonds Avenir SantéII and SATT Sud-Est in order to continue its research to transform RCT001 (metastatic uveal melanoma) into a potential drug.
1/Why did you choose the acceleration program and what did you expect from it in terms of results (name them)?
The Go4Bio accelerator program helped us:
- to exchange with an expert in our field, who is the founder and president (K. Chorro) of the start-up Phost’in. Our monthly meetings allowed me to discuss many subjects with her, to obtain her advice, her feedback, etc. Being able to talk with someone who has already experienced and overcome the creation and development of a biotech start-up is truly very useful! I warmly thank her, as well as the Eurobiomed team!
- to be able to finance regulatory expertise that allows me to move forward in the development of our company.
2/How would you describe the management and monitoring of the program by the EBM team?
I am very satisfied with the management and monitoring of the program by EBM! A big thank you to Jeoffrey!
3/ Impact of acceleration in the short, medium and long term and what results have already been achieved (cite them)?
This acceleration program helped me obtain all the information, turnkey, on the regulatory part of our RCT002 project. This allows us to develop our program error-free and as efficiently as possible.
There were numerous exchanges with Karine, the president of the biotech start-up Phost’in: advice on development and communication with investors in order to maximize our chances of successful fundraising; exchanges on the choice of investor conferences, on the management of the start-up and quite simply, but not least, his advice and encouragement which reassure us, among other things, on the “challenges” of fundraising!