Asceneuron, a Lausanne, Switzerland-based clinical stage biotech company developing small molecules targeting tau protein aggregation, raised $100M in Series C funding.
The round was led by Novo Holdings with new investment from EQT Life Sciences – LSP Dementia Fund, OrbiMed and SR One, alongside participation from existing investors M Ventures, Sofinnova Partners, GSK Equities Investments Limited and Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc.
The company intends to use the funds to advance its lead asset ASN51 into Phase 2 clinical development for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
Led by CEO Barbara Angehrn Pavik, Asceneuron is a clinical stage biotech company focused on the development of orally bioavailable therapeutics for debilitating neurodegenerative disorders with high unmet medical need. The company has two clinical-stage small molecule OGA inhibitors in development: ASN90 (licensed to Ferrer Pharmaceuticals) for the treatment of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and a potential molecule, ASN51, for Alzheimer’s disease. It is also planning to advance its pre-clinical development pipeline in Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other neurodegenerative indications.
In connection with the financing, Naveed Siddiqi of Novo Holdings, Philip Scheltens of EQT Life Sciences – LSP Dementia Fund and Dina Chaya of OrbiMed will join the Asceneuron board of directors, chaired by Abbas Hussain. Amit Shah, board director, will now represent new investor SR One (previously representing GSK). These Board directors join existing investor directors, Henrijette Richter of Sofinnova Partners and Hakan Goker of M Ventures.
FinSMEs
16/07/2024