Mondego Bio is featured in a European Investment Fund (EIF) case study highlighting its work in cancer immunotherapy and the role of specialist investment in advancing scientific innovation. Featuring perspectives from Mondego Bio and Biovance Capital, the article explores the company’s development and the growing potential of Portugal’s biotechnology sector.

The following article was originally published by the European Investment Fund on October 22, 2026, under the title “Mondego Bio: where Portuguese biotech begins.”

Read the original article on the EIF website.

Mondego Bio: where Portuguese biotech begins

“Most of the time, it’s not large pharmaceutical companies that create innovative treatments from scratch. It’s biotech start-ups like Mondego.”

Portugal is increasingly making its mark in European biotech. The country’s growing ecosystem of startups is not only expanding but also looking beyond national borders from the outset.

Between 2016 and 2020, more than half of Portuguese biotech companies derived more than 60% of their turnover from exports, suggesting that many startups are global in outlook from an early stage.

Mondego Bio is one example.

“Mondego is the largest river that originates in Portugal,” starts Dr. Rita Santos, External Outreach Director at the company. “Our name is a nod to Portugal’s age of discoveries. Just as ships once left our shores for the wider world, we hope the therapies we develop here can one day reach patients across the globe.”

A two-pronged approach

Mondego Bio develops next-generation cancer immunotherapies that help the immune system better recognise and fight tumours.

“The cancer treatment landscape has evolved significantly in recent years,” explains Rita. “One of the latest weapons in the fight against cancer is immunotherapy: therapies that harness our own immune system to recognise and attack cancer cells.” But while immunotherapy has transformed cancer treatment, it does not work for everyone. Tumours can adapt, evade the immune system and eventually return.

This is where Mondego comes in.

“Our drugs take a two-pronged approach,” says Rita. “First, we aim to expose tumours so that immunotherapies can recognise and attack them more effectively. Second, these treatments work best when immune cells are present within the tumour itself. Part of our work is therefore focused on improving the recruitment of immune cells to the tumour, helping the body’s natural defences do their job.”

From Portugal to the world

Mondego has completed its pre-clinical development and started its safety, biomarker and PK studies in healthy volunteers with concurrent studies launching in cancer patiens. “We’re at an exciting stage,” says Dr. João Incio, General Partner at Biovance Capital – Portugal’s first fund dedicated solely to biotech innovation, and one of the private investors behind Mondego.

Biovance played a key role in the company’s creation. “We wanted to build Mondego with deep ties to the Portuguese ecosystem,” says João. “We began collaborating with academic institutions in Portugal, including i3S, the country’s largest health and life sciences research institute, which is based in Porto.”

For João, the growing connection between academia, investors and entrepreneurs is central to Portugal’s biotech ambitions. “There are many individuals bringing ideas directly from academia into companies,” he says. “That strengthens the ecosystem. Most of the time, it’s not large pharmaceutical companies that create innovative treatments from scratch. It’s biotech start-ups like Mondego.”

Funds like Biovance Capital and start-ups like Mondego are helping to bring colour to Portugal’s growing biotech ecosystem. The European Investment Fund was Biovance’s anchor investor, helping provide the capital needed to get the fund off the ground. “Mondego Bio wouldn’t exist without EU support,” concludes Rita. “Access to funding can be challenging, but it’s exciting to be part of building Portugal’s biotech industry and helping write its story.”