PAQ Therapeutics, a Cambridge, Mass.-based biotechnology company focused on restoring heath and curing disease through autophagy, closed a $30m Series A financing.
The round was led by Sherpa Healthcare Partners with participation from Huagai Capital, MSA Capital, and MRL Ventures Fund, we well as seed investors Nest.Bio Ventures and Matrix Partners China.
Led by Nan Ji, Ph.D., Co-founder, President and CEO, PAQ Therapeutics is a biotechnology company advancing a new approach to restoring heath and curing disease through autophagy, the body’s most versatile mechanism for natural cellular degradation. With its ATTEC (autophagosome-tethering compound) technology, the company is developing a novel class of small molecule degraders capable of binding a diverse array of substrates to the autophagy pathway. PAQ’s research advances are driving a new class of degradation therapies with the potential to transform drug discovery and development and target a range of substrates including proteins, aggregates, lipids, organelles and pathogens.
Its novel autophagosome-tethering compounds (ATTECs) are small molecules with the potential to selectively catalyze autophagy-dependent degradation of a wide range of disease-causing substrates, including proteins and non-protein substrates, such as aggregates, mitochondria, lipids and pathogens. PAQ is initially focused on a genetic neurodegenerative disorder, with the potential to expand the breakthrough ATTEC platform to target disease-causing protein and non-protein targets for a range of diseases with limited treatment options.
The Series A financing will allow the company to advance its ATTEC platform and progress its pipeline programs.
Joining Dr. Ji as co-founders are Huaixiang Hao, PhD, Head of Biology and Professor Boxun Lu of Fudan University in Shanghai, China. PAQ’s scientific advisors include:
- David Rubinsztein, PhD, Professor of Molecular Neurogenetics and a UK Dementia Research Institute Group Leader, University of Cambridge
- Jared Rutter, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry, Dee Glen and Ida Smith Endowed Chair for Cancer Research, University of Utah
- Jin-Quan Yu, PhD, Frank and Bertha Hupp Professor of Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute
FinSMEs
16/07/2021