QurAlis Closes $88M Series B Financing

QurAlis

QurAlis, a Cambridge, MA-based clinical-stage biotechnology company, raised $88M in Series B funding.

The round, which brought the total funds raised to $143.5M, was led by EQT Life Sciences, Sanofi Ventures, and Droia Ventures, with participation from the ALS Investment Fund and existing investors LS Polaris Innovation Fund, Mission BioCapital, INKEF Capital, Dementia Discovery Fund, Amgen Ventures, MP Healthcare Venture Management, Mitsui Global Investment, Dolby Family Ventures, Mission Bay Capital, and Sanford Biosciences. As part of the Series B financing, Cillian King, Ph.D., managing director at EQT Life Sciences, and Laia Crespo, Ph.D., partner at Sanofi Ventures, will join QurAlis’ board of directors.

The company intends to use the funds to advance clinical development of QRL-201 and QRL-101, its lead product candidates in ALS, support ongoing and planned research, as well as the advancement of its pipeline with therapeutic candidates that target specific components of ALS and genetically related frontotemporal dementia (FTD) pathology and defined ALS patient populations based on both disease-causing genetic mutation(s) and clinical biomarkers.

Led by Kasper Roet, Ph.D., CEO, QurAlis is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing precision medicines for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other neurodegenerative diseases with genetically validated targets. Its proprietary platforms and biomarkers enable the design and development of drugs that act directly on disease-causing genetic alterations.

QRL-201 is a first-in-class therapeutic product candidate aiming to restore STMN2 expression in ALS patients. STMN2 is a well-validated protein important for neural repair and axonal stability, the expression of which is significantly decreased in nearly all ALS patients. QRL-201 rescues STMN2 loss of function in QurAlis ALS patient-derived motor neuron disease models in the presence of TDP-43 pathology. QRL-201 recently entered the clinic in the first-ever clinical trial to evaluate a therapy that rescues STMN2 in people with ALS (ANQUR; NCT05633459).

QRL-201 is the second program in QurAlis’ pipeline to enter the clinic recently. In December 2022, QurAlis announced the company initiated dosing of QRL-101 in a first-in-human Phase 1 clinical trial (NCT05667779). QRL-101 is a first-in-class selective Kv7.2/7.3 ion channel opener for the treatment of hyperexcitability-induced disease progression in ALS. 

FinSMEs

09/03/2023