EpiVario, a Philadelphia, PA-based early-stage drug discovery and development company, raised $445K in seed funding.
The funds will be used to hire additional research staff and support the first phase of preclinical research milestones.
EpiVario is advancing a new treatment for a wide range of memory-related psychiatric disorders at the source, including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Alzheimer’s, and alcohol and drug addiction.
Founded by University of Pennsylvania epigeneticists, the company’s novel approach works by targeting the non-essential gene, ACSS2, to prevent the process of negative memory formation or reconsolidation, a key contributor to PTSD and other memory-related conditions. EpiVario’s proof-of-concept has already been established in animals. Research on ACSS2 knockdown mice, conducted by co-founders Philipp Mews, Ph.D., and Shelley Berger, Ph.D., was published in Nature in June of 2017. Led by Thomas Kim, CEO, the company plans to begin its Phase 1 study in 2020.
FinSMEs
12/12/2018