Prilenia Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech company that develops novel treatments for neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders, announced that it has raised $43M (approx €37.22M) in an oversubscribed Series B round of funding.
With this round, the company has now raised a total of $133.5M (approx €115.56M) in funding to date.
Investors
The round was led by Sands Capital, alongside Forbion and Morningside. Amplitude Ventures also joined the round as a new investor, in addition to existing investors Sectoral Asset Management, Talisman, and the ALS Investment Fund.
Geert-Jan Mulder, MD, Prilenia Chairman and Managing Partner at Forbion, says “Prilenia has made tremendous progress since its founding through outstanding execution on all fronts. We are excited to continue to support the Company on its journey to develop pridopidine as a potential treatment for HD and ALS patients.”
“Improving the lives of patients and their families”
Founded in 2016 by Michael R Hayden (MBChB, PhD), Prilenia develops treatments for neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders. It is based in Naarden, the Netherlands, Herzliya, Israel, and Boston, MA in the US.
The company is developing its lead asset, Pridopidine, a potent Sigma-1-receptor (S1R) agonist with neuroprotective properties, for the treatment of Huntington’s Disease in a global phase 3 clinical study, PROOF-HD. Activation of the S1R by pridopidine enhances the clearance of toxic proteins, enhances energy production, and reduces cellular stress and inflammation. These mechanisms are crucial for a neuron’s function and survival.
In addition to this, pridopidine is also being evaluated in a clinical trial for the treatment of ALS in a phase 2/3 study in collaboration with The Healey Center.
Pridopidine is orally administered with therapeutic potential in HD, ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases and neurodevelopmental disorders such as Rett and Fragile-X syndromes. The drug is currently in late-stage clinical development for HD and ALS. Both trials, the global phase 3 clinical trial in HD (PROOF-HD) and the Healey platform trial in ALS are currently active.
Prilenia is continuing the clinical and preclinical evaluation of pridopidine in various neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental indications and plans to initiate additional clinical studies in the future.
Capital utilisation
The proceeds from this round will help the company to prepare for potential registration and commercialisation of its lead drug candidate, pridopidine, for patients with Huntington’s Disease (HD) and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
Founder of Prilenia, Dr. Michael R. Hayden says, “With the support of this group of leading investors, we are well-capitalised and resourced to continue advancing our programs towards potential registration and commercialisation. The recent completion of patient enrollment in our PROOF-HD Phase 3 clinical trial ahead of schedule and above target enrollment numbers is a significant milestone.”
Prilenia Therapeutics will also use the capital to accelerate timelines and expand its executive team and operations.
01
No early-stage VCs, no economy: Cottonwood’s Alain le Loux on Fund IV, early-stage deep tech startups, science IP-based innovation