Nema Health, a biotechnology company specialized in personalized immunotherapies for cancer treatment and a Catalonia.health member, has closed its first seed funding round. The operation totals €1.06 million, comprising a capital increase of €730,000 and a grant of €335,000 awarded by the CDTI's NEOTEC program (2025 call).

Strategic Investor Participation

The round included participation from BCN Peptides, also a member of Catalonia.health, a leader in the manufacture of bioactive peptides with over 30 years of experience in its field, investors from the "business angels" networks EconomistesBan (College of Economists of Catalonia) and MedAngels (College of Physicians of Barcelona), as well as individuals close to the founding team.

Development of Onconeovac

This capital injection will enable Nema Health to accelerate the preclinical development of Onconeovac, its personalized immunotherapy for solid tumors consisting of the combination of tumor neoantigens with DIF peptides, immuno-stimulatory peptides protected by patent in different territories.

Currently, the project focuses on the treatment of advanced-stage melanoma, with the objective of acting in combination with other therapies. It is estimated that 330,000 new cases of melanoma are diagnosed worldwide each year and that approximately 60,000 people die from this disease. Around 15-20% of melanomas are diagnosed at stage III or IV, that is, as advanced regional or metastatic disease.

The main challenges that Nema Health aims to address with Onconeovac are resistance and lack of response to immunotherapy, treatment toxicity, and management of the high risk of relapse. Results obtained in animal studies indicate that Onconeovac could prevent tumor development as well as reduce tumor growth in the same way as anti-PD1 —one of the most widely used immunotherapies in metastatic melanoma— and up to 4 times when administered with anti-PD1, thus being able to provide a valuable solution for oncologists.

The resources obtained in this round will also be used to explore the application of this technology in other types of tumors and in the veterinary field.

Olga Rué, CEO of Nema Health, highlighted "the strategic relevance of BCN Peptides' entry as an industrial partner. Their expertise in peptide manufacturing guarantees the scalability necessary to produce Onconeovac with the highest quality standards. The investment received, together with the CDTI grant, allows us to focus all our efforts on developing an immunotherapy that aims to create impact by improving the treatment of metastatic melanoma and offering new hope to patients, without ruling out that the technology can be applied to many other types of cancer with limited therapeutic options."

Professionalization of Structure

With the closing of this round, the company is professionalizing its structure with the creation of a new Board of Directors formed by Olga Rué (CEO and Managing Director), Marta Corral (CSO), Anna Parente (representing BCN Peptides), and Luis Ruiz as an independent director.