BrainVectis, a Fontenay aux Roses, France-based company specialized in gene therapy for neurodegenerative diseases, specifically Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s diseases, closed a €1m ($1.1m) Series A financing round.
The company intends to use the funds to complete preclinical pharmacological tests in order to enter into the clinical trial phase in 2019 for Huntington’s disease, and in 2021 for Alzheimer’s disease.
Led by Jérôme Becquart, managing director, BrainVectis develops gene therapy treatments for neurodegenerative diseases by targeting the cholesterol pathway in the brain. Based on work carried out by Dr. Nathalie Cartier-Lacave and her team at the UMR1169 unit (INSERM/CEA) and by her collaborators (INSERM/UMR-S 1130, UMR 8246-CNRS), the company is currently focusing on Huntington’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. The target is to stop the progression of these neurodegenerative diseases by restoring cholesterol metabolism in the brain. In these patients, the expression of CYP46A1, a key enzyme in cholesterol metabolism, is reduced.
BrainVectis, which has five employees, is a spin-off of INSERM.
FinSMEs
13/09/2016