Emmanuel Akporiaye, founder of Veana Therapeutics, said the start-up raised its first venture funding, a $542 000 seed round that brings its total funding to more than $10 million, reported GeekWire.

The funds will go toward the first clinical trial of Veana's oral drug candidate Vimo, a vitamin E derivative that could potentially make cancer immunotherapies more effective, the news source said.

Vimo stimulates the immune system to continue attacking the cells, making it an ideal treatment partner for checkpoint inhibitors, according to the news source.

Akporiaye also noted that the drug has not shown any sign of toxic side effects, like those common for chemotherapy.

The new clinical trial will study Vimo in combination with Merck & Co.'s checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda.

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