MabVax Therapeutics Holdings closed on the first part of a financing agreement with Oxford Finance,.

The financing agreement will provide the company with up to $10 million in senior secured debt financing. It received an initial loan of $5 million, before approximately $381,000 in issuances costs, with an additional $5 million to be released contingent upon achieving certain milestones.

The net proceeds of the initial tranche of debt financing will supplement the company’s cash position, following a $2.75 million public offering which the company previously announced was completed in October 2015. The proceeds of the debt financing transaction, together with the public offering, will help advance the company’s lead antibody-based product HuMab-5B1, recently authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to proceed with the first of two phase 1 clinical trials, in 2016.

MabVax Therapeutics Holdings is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing antibody-based products and vaccines to address unmet medical needs in the treatment of cancer.