Convert Pharmaceuticals, based in Liège, develops CP-506, a hypoxia-activated prodrug: a cancer drug designed to stay inactive as it travels through the body and switch on only in the low-oxygen regions of a tumour, where some of the most treatment-resistant cancer cells live. It was selected in the EIC Accelerator's March 2023 cut-off for blended finance and received an EU grant of €2.46 million for TUMAGNOSTIC, a €3.52 million project that ran from January 2024 to December 2025, according to CORDIS. The project aimed to take CP-506 "from Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5 to TRL 6 by completing Phase I clinical trials and laying the groundwork for TRL 7".
The project is closed and Phase I is not complete. The final report states that two more sites, Erasmus MC in the Netherlands and Institut Jules Bordet in Belgium, joined the trial, that Spain approved it, and that "dose escalation is well advanced", according to the CORDIS reporting page. In June 2026 the company said it expected to define the recommended dose "around the end of 2026". On 29 September 2026 it reported no dose-limiting toxicity across the first four dose levels and exploratory tumour volume reductions of up to 49% in patients who had exhausted other treatments, according to its announcement.
Company file
- Legal entity
- Convert Pharmaceuticals SA, BE 0671.828.631, Liège
- Founder and CEO
- Prof. Dr. Philippe Lambin
- Lead drug
- CP-506, hypoxia-activated prodrug
- Trial
- TUMAGNOSTIC, NCT04954599, recruiting
- Planned enrolment
- 126 patients
- Staff
- 0.3 FTE in company filings
- EIC funding
- Blended finance; €2.46M grant
Where Convert Stands Now
The Phase I/IIa trial is still recruiting, with 126 patients planned and primary completion estimated for February 2027, according to ClinicalTrials.gov. Stable disease was seen in patients with pancreatic, head and neck, and breast cancer, the company says. Antonin de Fougerolles, Moderna's founding chief scientific officer, is quoted in the release saying "Convert appears to have solved" the problem of drugging hypoxia. The company's own filings list just 0.3 full-time employees and negative equity of €841,823 at the end of 2025, according to Companyweb.
"For decades, cancer treatment has faced a difficult trade-off: exposing the whole body to a drug while trying to kill cancer cells deep inside a tumour. CP-506 is designed to change that equation."
Prof. Dr. Philippe Lambin, founder and CEO, Convert Pharmaceuticals, September 2026The Technology: A Drug That Waits for Low Oxygen
Tumour hypoxia is linked to poor responses to several standard therapies. Earlier hypoxia-activated drugs failed, and Convert's approach adds AI-driven biomarkers and imaging to pick patients most likely to respond. In the trial, the active form of CP-506 circulated at about one seventieth of the prodrug level, which the company says supports activation in the tumour rather than healthy tissue, and its half-life of 5.6 hours is longer than earlier drugs of this type.
What the EIC Award Promised, and What the Record Shows
The award's stated aim was to complete Phase I. The trial was expanded and advanced, with an encouraging safety profile, but the dose escalation was still running when the project ended, and the recommended dose is expected only at the end of 2026. The tumour shrinkage figures are exploratory results from individual patients in an uncontrolled study.
- Trial expansionDeliveredNew sites; Spain approved.
- Safety dataDeliveredNo dose-limiting toxicity.
- Complete Phase INot yetDose expected end 2026.
- EfficacyUnverifiedExploratory only.
The Money
The EU paid 70% of the project. Convert said in March 2025 that the EIC grant supported "its ongoing Series A investment" round; no closing of that round has been announced. The company's net loss was about €630,000 a year from 2023 to 2025, and its debts stood at €1.78 million at the end of 2025.
What Cannot Be Checked
Questions for the EIC
Whether the EIC Fund invested, whether the Series A closed, who carries out the work given the company's tiny payroll, and how many patients have been treated are not public.
Why Europe Should Care
The company says hypoxia marks some of the most aggressive and treatment-resistant cancer cells, and past attempts to target it failed. A Belgian biotech with EU support has early human data that at least shows the idea is safe to pursue. The expensive stages of proving it works are still ahead.
What the award promised
Completion of the Phase I trial of CP-506, laying the groundwork for Phase II.
What the record shows
A trial still in dose escalation, encouraging early safety, and some tumour shrinkage in a few patients.
The Verdict
Promising, behind schedule
Convert moved its drug into patients with EIC money and has early encouraging signs. It did not finish Phase I in the time the project allowed.
Convert Pharmaceuticals and the EIC have not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records and published statements, linked throughout.
