Founded just three months ago in August 2025, London-based Kindling Bio is inverting the standard adult-to-child drug translation model by developing a gene therapy platform designed specifically for childhood solid tumors from the outset. With £250k in launch funding and fresh laboratory space at the Innovation Gateway within The London Cancer Hub, the company aims to solve a fundamental problem: most childhood cancers have far fewer mutations than adult tumors, making them nearly invisible to the immune system.

Building Therapy Around Childhood Biology, Not Adapting Adult Approaches

While most cancer immunotherapy development focuses on adult disease and then attempts pediatric translation, Kindling Bio co-founders are putting children first. The company’s approach centers on a reality that has historically made childhood cancers harder to treat with immunotherapy: these tumors lack the high mutation burden that helps adult cancers generate immune-recognizable markers.

“Most childhood cancers have far fewer mutations than adult tumours, which makes them harder for the immune system to ‘see’ and eliminate,” explains the founding team. Their solution: engineer tumor cells to display artificial “flags” that redirect children’s immune systems against the cancer.

The platform’s scalability comes from a counterintuitive strategy. By creating the same flags across different types of childhood cancer, we make them look similar to the immune system, enabling immune cells to recognise and destroy them. This means one therapy can target many childhood tumours, creating a scalable approach where none has previously existed.

From Academic Research to Laboratory Launch in 18 Months

Kindling Bio emerged from collaboration between two scientists with complementary expertise and Deep Science Ventures, supported by Innovate UK funding. Aleck Jones brings nearly 20 years of cancer and early-life health research, including a Ph.D. in Cancer Cell Biology from University College London and research positions spanning cancer biology, neuroscience, and pediatric health interventions at UCL, MRC National Institute of Medical Research, and King’s College London.

Co-founder Jeff Drew brings serial biotech entrepreneurship experience, having previously founded three successful biotechnology companies in regenerative medicine, virology, and vaccine development. His Ph.D. in Molecular Virology from the Pirbright Institute and postdoctoral work at the Institute of Cancer Research provide the viral engineering expertise critical to the gene therapy platform.

The 18-month derisking period before launch proved essential. “Before the launch of Kindling Bio, Aleck spent 18 months derisking the business and technical strategy alongside my co-founder Jeff Drew and Deep Science Venture,” the CEO notes.

Addressing the Neglected Childhood Cancer Market

The unmet need is stark. Cancer remains a leading cause of death in children, yet pediatric patients continue to receive aggressive drugs originally designed for adults. “While these treatments can save lives, they often come at a devastating cost to developing bodies, leaving many survivors with lifelong health challenges,” the founders emphasize.

The commercial reality driving this clinical gap is straightforward: because childhood cancers are relatively rare, drug development has historically focused on adult disease. But as the Kindling Bio team argues, “kids are not mini adults, and we cannot continue treating their cancers in the same way.”

Their platform targets multiple childhood solid tumors with a single therapeutic approach, creating commercial viability in an otherwise fragmented market where individual pediatric cancer indications offer limited patient populations.

Manufacturing Strategy: Early CDMO Engagement for Clinical Readiness

Despite being at the pre-clinical stage, Kindling Bio has already initiated conversations with contract development and manufacturing organizations. This forward planning reflects lessons learned from watching other gene therapies struggle with scale-up challenges.

“We have already begun early discussions with CDMOs to understand the specific development and manufacturing requirements for our therapy,” the team reports. “By considering scalability from the outset, we want to ensure that our platform can move efficiently from early research through to clinical production.”

Operating Within a World-Class Translational Ecosystem

Kindling Bio’s October 2025 move into the Innovation Gateway at The London Cancer Hub places the company alongside the Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden Hospital. This proximity to world-leading translational and clinical infrastructure provides access to expertise that would be difficult for an early-stage biotech to replicate independently.

The company joined cohort 3 of the Science Creates Engineering Biology Accelerator in October, adding another layer of support for platform refinement. Combined with Deep Science Ventures’ ongoing network access and angel investors committed to pediatric cancer innovation, Kindling Bio has assembled a support structure designed to accelerate development while maintaining focus.

Path to Pre-Seed: Proof-of-Concept by 2026

The current research and development program targets a clear milestone: delivering proof-of-concept data for the platform ahead of a pre-seed funding round in 2026. Following successful proof-of-concept, the company plans to “rapidly progress our prototype platform into paediatric cancer models and seed financing to propel our lead candidate toward clinical development and scale up manufacturing.”

The vision extends beyond pediatric oncology. “Our vision is a truly scalable and curative therapy for cancer, an approach that prioritises children with the potential to expand to adult oncology,” the founders state.

Regulatory Planning Before First Experiments

One advantage of starting fresh: building regulatory strategy into the development plan from day one rather than retrofitting it later. The team recognizes that “one of the key challenges for any new therapy is navigating the complex path toward clinical testing, especially in children.”

Their response is preemptive engagement. “From the outset, we are building our development plan with regulatory input in mind, so we can move smoothly and responsibly toward first-in-human studies.”

This approach of planning for pediatric regulatory requirements before generating proof-of-concept data represents a departure from the more common pattern of developing promising preclinical data first and addressing regulatory complexity later.

Advice: Build With the End in Mind

For fellow early-stage biotech founders, Kindling Bio’s message emphasizes long-term thinking over short-term wins. “Clinical success depends on the choices made early, from designing with scalable process and early regulator engagement in mind, to understanding what will matter most to patients and clinicians.”

The team credits their strong launch position to “the hard work and ongoing support of experienced advisors and organisations who share our drive for impact and recognise the growth potential in our approach.”

As the CEO concludes: “Building for both growth and impact is challenging. My advice to other early-stage biotech founders is to engage openly and positively with your network from the start, their insights are essential to overcome the real world challenges of scaling toward the clinic whilst staying true to your vision.