Lysogene, a France-based gene therapy biotechnology company, has raised €16.5m ($22.5m) in its series A round from a consortium including a venturing unit operated by Denmark-based healthcare investment foundation Novo.
Venture capital firm Sofinnova Partners and InnoBio, a €139m ($189m) venture capital fund managed by Bpifrance, invested alongside Novo Seeds in the round.
The French government has subscribed to 37% of InnoBio through the FSI organisation, together with pharmaceutical companies including Sanofi-Aventis, GSK, Roche, Novartis, Pfizer, Lilly, Ipsen, Takeda and Boehringer Ingelheim.
Rafaèle Tordjman, Chahra Louafi and Henrijette Richter, respectively as representatives of Sofinnova Partners, InnoBio and Novo, will sit on Lysogene’s board.
Richter, investment director at Novo Seeds, said: “[Lysogene] has the most advanced gene therapy approach on Sanfilippo syndrome type A, and its initial results are extremely encouraging”.
CEO Karen Aiach and Professor Olivier Danos, scientific adviser, founded Lysogene in 2009.