Backers included Pivotal Capital Alpha, Al-Hamra Group, Radical Investments, Homebrew Ventures, Haystack Fund and existing investors, including Y Combinator. Novartis participated in the financing under the terms of its research collaboration with Perlara.
Led by founder and CEO Ethan Perlstein, PhD., Perlara is a public benefit corporation working to develop cures for rare diseases and learn how genes work across diseases to map connections to common ailments.
The company operates by embarking on discovery journeys called PerlQuests™ with families and patient organizations to develop treatments for rare diseases.
The first PerlQuests target Niemann-Pick C Disease (NPC) and Niemann-Pick A Disease (NPA), lysosomal storage disorders, NGLY1 Deficiency, a metabolic disease related to proteasome-mediated degradation, and PMM2-CDG, a congenital disorder of glycosylation. What we are learning from the NPC PerlQuest may lead to drug candidates for Alzheimer’s disease.
Its first PerlQuesters are Grace Science Foundation (NGLY1), Wylder Nation Foundation (NPA), and Maggie’s PMM2-CDG Cure, three pioneers in the search for treatments of rare diseases.
The company, which has raised a total of $9.9M since inception in 2014, intends to use the funds to advance programs forward, discover novel lead compounds for its first three PerlQuest partners, and double its disease pipeline with the launch of six new PerlQuests.
FinSMEs
01/11/2017