Advertise With UsAdvertise on our extensive network of industry websites and newsletters.
Get the PBR newsletterSign up to our free email to get all the latest PBR
news.Augustine Therapeutics has secured €17m ($18.5m) in a Series A funding round's initial close for advancing its lead candidate, AGT100216, into a Phase I/II first-in-human clinical trial next year to treat neurological conditions.
The funds will bolster the development of Augustine's drug pipeline for neurodegenerative and cardiometabolic diseases. Credit: Milad Fakurian on Unsplash.
Subscribe to our email newsletter
The funding round was spearheaded by Asabys Partners and saw contributions from Eli Lilly and Charcot-Marie-Tooth Research Foundation in the US.
Existing investors, including AdBio Partners, PMV, V-Bio Ventures, VIB and Gemma Frisius Fund also participated.
AGT100216 is a small molecule HDAC6i with a distinct mechanism-of-action, showing promise for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) and chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN).
Additionally, the funds will bolster the development of Augustine’s drug pipeline, which includes next-generation candidates with peripheral-restricted or brain-penetrant properties for neurodegenerative and cardiometabolic diseases.
Augustine Therapeutics CEO Sylvain Celanire said: “Our first clinical candidate, AGT100216, has demonstrated impressive preclinical efficacy in CMT studies highlighting its ability to halt disease progression, significantly reverse the disease phenotype and rescue axonal integrity in a dose-dependent manner.”
The proceeds will also be used by Augustine Therapeutics to fund the expansion of its executive and R&D teams.
Asabys Partners founding and managing partner Clara Campàs joined the Board of Directors, with Isabel Jiménez, associate at Asabys, and a representative from Eli Lilly set to join as Board Observers.
Campàs said: “Augustine’s molecules are unique, selective and potent, providing a competitive advantage in modulating a validated target with potential impact in a large variety of indications.
“Augustine’s novel generation of chemically distinct HDAC6 inhibitors are unprecedented and have the potential to overcome some of the typical limitations of other HDAC6 inhibitors currently being tested in early clinical development.”
Additionally, the company appointed Gerhard Koenig as executive chairman of the Board.
