TEMPE, Ariz.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Calviri, Inc., a biotech startup spun out of Arizona State University Biodesign Institute, focused on ending deaths from cancer, today announced the closing of $2.25 million in seed round funding. The funding is from five private investors including Dr. Jacque Sokolov, a Calviri Board member, and Dr. Mitzi Krockover.

Calviri was founded based on the discovery that tumors make frequent and recurrent errors in RNA transcription and processing that create highly immunogenic frameshift peptides (FSPs). Calviri has developed a manufacturing process that displays >400,000 FSPs on microchips; this enables patients’ blood to be simply screened for anti-FSP antibodies. This process is the basis for the design of off-the-shelf vaccines for any cancer, as well as diagnostics for the early detection of any cancer. Calviri holds exclusive rights, licensed from Skysong, to the diagnostic technology developed by the Biodesign Center at ASU.

Kathryn Sykes, VP of Research and Product Development, stated, “We will use the funding to demonstrate the strengths of this unique technology. We anticipate demonstrating an accurate predictive diagnostic for response to checkpoint inhibitors and a high sensitivity test for the early detection of breast and colon cancers.”

Stephen Albert Johnston, CEO and founder, announced, “This funding is a vote of confidence for our ambitious goals. It comes at a time that will allow Calviri to meet some important valuation inflection milestones for both the diagnostics and vaccines.”

About Calviri, Inc.

Calviri is an early stage healthcare company whose mission is to provide a broad spectrum of fundamentally different vaccines and companion diagnostics that prevent and treat cancer for those either at risk or diagnosed. Calviri is focused on using frameshift neoantigens derived from errors in RNA processing to provide pioneering products against cancer. The company is a spin out of the Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, located in Tempe, Arizona. For more information, please visit www.calviri.com.

About Arizona State University

Arizona State University has developed a new model for the American Research University, creating an institution that is committed to access, excellence and impact. ASU measures itself by those it includes, not by those it excludes. As the prototype for a New American University, ASU pursues research that contributes to the public good, and ASU assumes major responsibility for the economic, social and cultural vitality of the communities that surround it. Learn more: www.asu.edu

About Skysong Innovations

Skysong Innovations works with ASU researchers to protect and commercialize the intellectual property they create, promoting the ASU research enterprise and enhancing the community ASU serves. Among universities without a medical school, the Milken Institute ranked ASU as sixth best for tech transfer, and in 2018, ASU made the National Academy of Inventors and IP Owners Association’s top ten list for U.S. Patents issued. In addition, ASU is consistently among the top performing large universities in annual surveys by the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) for invention disclosures, venture formation, and deal making per $10 million in research expenditures. Skysong Innovations has helped launch more than 140 new spinout companies from ASU, which together have attracted almost a billion dollars in outside investments. Learn more: https://www.skysonginnovations.com/