NEOGAP and the EIC Accelerator: Training T-Cells Against Cancer

NEOGAP Therapeutics, based at Cancer Center Karolinska in Stockholm, develops pTTL, personalised Tumour Trained Lymphocytes: T-cells taken from a patient's lymph nodes and grown in the lab against neoantigens, mutated proteins found only in that patient's tumour, then infused back to attack the cancer. Its PIOR software picks the neoantigens and its EpiTCer technology presents them to the T-cells. It was selected in the EIC Accelerator's March 2023 cut-off with blended finance and received an EU grant of €2.50 million for NEOpTTL, an €8.42 million project that ran from November 2023 to July 2026, according to CORDIS. The goal was to "complete the phase I/IIa clinical trial", optimise manufacturing and plan the route to approval.

After the first year, 19 patients had been included in the trial and one had been treated with pTTL, and NEOGAP had signed a manufacturing contract with the Swedish CDMO NorthX and won an advanced therapy classification from the European Medicines Agency, according to the CORDIS reporting page. In March 2025 the company reported that safety data from the first two treated patients showed the therapy "is well tolerated", according to Cision. The trial, which plans to treat 12 to 16 patients, lists December 2027 as its estimated primary completion date, according to ClinicalTrials.gov.

Where NEOGAP Stands Now

NEOGAP reported no sales and other operating income of SEK 35.4 million in 2025, with a net loss of SEK 6.5 million, according to its accounts on Allabolag. It carries SEK 104 million of capitalised development on its balance sheet. In November 2023 it raised SEK 54 million in a share issue and secured SEK 29 million of EU funding, according to Cision. It later won approval to give the full dose from the start of treatment, started a Vinnova-funded collaboration with Weill Cornell Medicine, and was chosen by the EIC for its delegation to the BIO convention in 2026.

The Technology: T-Cells Trained on Each Tumour

Current immunotherapy is less effective in solid tumours with few immune cells inside them, the report says. NEOGAP sequences the patient's tumour, designs targets from its mutations, and expands T-cells taken from the regional lymph nodes. Each product is made for one patient. Whether the approach shrinks tumours is a secondary question in the current trial, which is mainly about safety.

What the EIC Award Promised, and What the Record Shows

The award promised to complete the Phase I/IIa trial, optimise manufacturing and plan the next stage. Manufacturing work and regulatory steps advanced, and early safety data are encouraging. But only one patient had been treated a year into the project, the first patients were announced in January 2025, and the trial's own timeline now runs past 2027, so the central goal was not met within the project.

1. Manufacturing scale-outDeliveredNorthX contract, cryopreservation.
2. Regulatory strategyDeliveredEMA ATMP classification.
3. Early safety dataDeliveredTwo patients, March 2025.
4. Trial completionNot doneEstimated Dec 2027.

The Money

The EU grant covered only 30% of the €8.42 million project, with NEOGAP funding the rest from share issues and other grants. The SEK 29 million of EU funding it announced in 2023 matches the size of the EIC grant. Whether the EIC Fund took equity has not been announced. Annual losses have been between SEK 5.7 million and SEK 11.4 million since a SEK 60.5 million loss in 2022.

What Cannot Be Checked

Why Europe Should Care

Personalised cell therapies for solid tumours are one of the frontiers of cancer medicine. NEOGAP is a Swedish contender with patents and a running trial. The EIC grant moved it into patients; the evidence of whether it works will take several more years.

The Verdict

NEOGAP Therapeutics and the EIC have not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records and published statements, linked throughout.