Key Investor Signals
€730,000 seed round led by peptide manufacturer BCN Peptides
BCN Peptides led the March 2026 round alongside investors from EconomistesBAN and MedAngels. Nema Health raised €730,000 in equity plus a separate €335,000 NEOTEC grant.
DIF peptide patents granted across six jurisdictions
Patents covering the DIF peptide family are granted in Europe, the US, Japan, Australia, Canada and South Korea. Nema Health holds an exclusive licence from UdL, VHIR and IRBLleida.
CEO previously led vaccine developer Archivel Farma for 10+ years
Olga Rué Clarós led Archivel Farma as CEO from 2011 to 2022. The company raised multiple rounds and advanced its RUTI tuberculosis vaccine into clinical trials.
Other Positive Signals
- Certified by ENISA as an empresa emergente under Spain’s startup law.
- Named a 2026 Deep Tech Pioneer by Hello Tomorrow’s global startup competition.
- Selected for the spring 2026 Superpella accelerator in Basel.
Team
Olga Rué Clarós
CEO and Co-founder
- Led Archivel Farma as CEO from 2011 to 2022, advancing its RUTI tuberculosis vaccine into clinical trials.
- Previously served as Archivel Farma’s CFO, leading financing rounds and negotiating public development loans.
- Co-founded RUTI IMMUNE in 2020 and led a Capital Cell crowdfunding round that funded a vaccine study in healthcare workers.
Marta Corral Pujol
CSO and Co-founder
- PhD in Health Sciences from Universitat de Lleida; OncoNeoVac emerged from her doctoral research in immunology.
- Postdoctoral researcher in UdL’s immunology and immunopathology group from 2022 to 2024, supported by a Santander Impuls grant.
- Co-first author of a 2023 Frontiers in Endocrinology paper on nerve damage in an autoimmune diabetes mouse model.
Joan Verdaguer Autonell
Scientific Advisor and Co-founder
- Associate professor of immunology at Universitat de Lleida since 2005 and research group leader at IRBLleida.
- Held a Miguel Servet senior research post at Germans Trias i Pujol, part of Spain’s national researcher career program.
- Member of CIBERDEM, Spain’s national research network for diabetes and metabolic disease.
Product
OncoNeoVac is a preclinical personalized immunotherapy that combines patient-specific tumor neoantigens with DIF peptides derived from peripherin. The neoantigens provide tumor targets, while the DIF peptides act as an adjuvant designed to stimulate the immune response.
For checkpoint-resistant melanoma
OncoNeoVac initially targets stage III and IV melanoma in patients whose cancer does not respond to checkpoint inhibitors or later relapses after an initial response.
Peripherin-derived immune adjuvant
Nema Health’s DIF peptides act as the adjuvant. They are designed to generate a durable immune response with low toxicity while keeping production costs lower.
Out-licensing after preclinical work
Nema Health plans to build the preclinical evidence package in-house, then out-license OncoNeoVac to pharmaceutical partners for further development and commercialization.
Market Overview
Advanced melanoma remains difficult to treat despite checkpoint inhibitors. Around 15%–20% of cases are diagnosed at stage III or IV. An estimated 40%–55% of metastatic patients show primary resistance to checkpoint therapy, while roughly another quarter initially respond before the cancer begins growing again.
Personalized neoantigen therapies are already being tested alongside checkpoint inhibitors in late-stage trials. Merck and Moderna have reported positive randomized melanoma results for an individualized therapy, showing that patient-specific treatments can fit established oncology pathways.
Melanoma was diagnosed in 337,969 people worldwide in 2024 and caused 58,398 deaths.
Checkpoint therapy never works for 40%–55% of metastatic melanoma patients; another 25% respond initially, then relapse.
BioNTech said the deal would strengthen its mRNA cancer immunotherapy pipeline; it closed on 15 December 2025.
The market is projected to grow at a 44.9% CAGR between 2025 and 2030.
Comparable Outcomes
Checkmate Pharmaceuticals
Checkmate developed vidutolimod, an injected immune activator tested with checkpoint inhibitors in melanoma. Phase 2 studies included patients whose disease had stopped responding to checkpoint therapy. Regeneron completed the acquisition of Checkmate Pharmaceuticals in May 2022 for approximately $250M.
BioVex
BioVex developed OncoVEX, a modified herpes virus injected into melanoma tumors to trigger an immune response. Amgen agreed to acquire BioVex while the therapy was in Phase 3 trials. Amgen completed the acquisition of BioVex in March 2011 for $425M in cash.
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Sources
This profile was built from public company materials, ecosystem sources, market references, and professional profiles.