Quralis, a US-based neurological disease medicine spinout of Harvard University, has raised $42m of series A funding from investors including Amgen Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of pharmaceutical firm Amgen Ventures.
The round also included Mitsui Global Investment, the corporate venturing arm of conglomerate Mitsui, and biotechnology firm Sanford Biosciences as well as Dolby Family Ventures, MP Healthcare Venture Management.
UK government-backed investment unit Dementia Discovery Fund co-led the round together with LS Polaris Innovation Fund, Mission BioCapital, Inkef Capital and Droia Ventures.
Founded in 2016, Quralis is progressing drugs for neurological disease with a focus on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a group of paralysing motor neuron disorders that can leave patient with two-to-five years to live.
The company intends to exploit precision medicine, with around 30 genetic triggers thought responsible for ALS.
Quralis has a stem cell technique to transform patient-derived skin cells into motor neurons, and will use the series A funding to identify potential treatments, both for ALS and for other genetically-related conditions which cause frontotemporal dementia.
Quralis closed a $5.5m two-tranche seed round led by drug discovery services provider Viva Biotech and including BioInnovation Capital in late 2018.
The extension followed an undisclosed seed sum earlier that year from Amgen Ventures and Alexandria Venture Investments, part of life science real estate developer Alexandria Real Estate Equities, in addition to MP Healthcare Venture Management, part of Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma, owned in turn by conglomerate Mitsubishi Chemical.
– The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.