Augustine Therapeutics, a Leuven, Belgium-based biotech company focused on novel treatments for neurodegenerative and cardiometabolic diseases, raised EUR 17M in its first closing of Series A funding.
The round was led by Asabys Partners, with participation from Eli Lilly and Company, and the US-based Charcot-Marie-Tooth Research Foundation, AdBio partners, V-Bio Ventures, PMV, VIB and Gemma Frisius Fund.
In conjunction with the financing, Clara Campàs, Founding and Managing Partner at Asabys Partners, has joined Augustine Therapeutics’ Board of Directors. Isabel Jiménez, Associate at Asabys, and a representative from Eli Lilly and Company, will join as Board Observers.
The company intends to use the funds to advance the development of its lead candidate AGT100216, a peripherally restricted and selective HDAC6 inhibitor, into a first-in-human clinical Phase 1/2 study.
Founded in 2019 and a spin-off company of VIB-KU Leuven and led by CEO Sylvain Celanire, Augustine Therapeutics is a biotech company building a portfolio of small molecules HDAC6 inhibitors for the treatment of severe peripheral and CNS diseases. It is developing best-in-class, novel, potent and subtype-selective small-molecule inhibitors of the cytosolic Histone DeACetylase 6 (HDAC6) enzyme, a class II histone deacetylase. HDAC6 is a molecular target with biological rationale for neurological disorders and high therapeutic potential in cardiometabolic disease.
The company’s scientific foundation originates from the research of Prof. Ludo Van Den Bosch from the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain and Disease Research, tackling the underlying mechanism of axonal degeneration of peripheral nerves through selective HDAC6 inhibition.
FinSMEs
26/06/2024