Clinical stage biotech company Prilenia Therapeutics has raised $62.5M in a Series A financing round led by Forbion, with the participation of new investors, Morningside Venture Investments and Sectoral Asset Management and existing investors Talisman Capital Partners and Genworks 2. With offices in Israel and the Netherlands, this brings the amount raised by the company since it was founded in 2018 to $84.5 million.
The new funds will be used for two late-stage trials, which could lead to the registration of pridopidine for the treatment of HD and ALS. Pridopidine is a highly selective sigma-1 receptor (S1R) agonist, which is shown to maintain functional capacity in early HD patients. The treatment was recently selected from an international competition of over 30 potential therapeutics for inclusion in the first ever ALS platform trial, led by the Healey Center for ALS at Massachusetts General Hospital. The Phase III trial in HD and the platform trial in ALS - are expected to commence in the second half of 2020.
Prilenia has also announced the appointment of Michael R. Hayden as CEO. He has been serving as Prilenia executive chairman of Prilenia since the company was founded. He is a world-renowned scientist in Huntington’s Disease research and the former President of Global R&D and Chief Scientific Officer at Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA). He has co-founded five biotechnology companies of which two realized successful exits and three became public, most recently 89bio (Nasdaq: ETNB).
Hayden said, "Having such renowned investors Forbion, Morningside and Sectoral join us on this important journey is important validation of the team and our development program. With this funding, we will be able to complete two critical clinical trials in disease areas with significant unmet need. We believe we have the opportunity to bring real hope to HD and ALS patients and their families and we are keen to accelerate our progress."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on June 3, 2020
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