US-based gene therapy developer Prevail Therapeutics has secured $75m in a series A round featuring Alexandria Venture Investments, the venture capital arm of life sciences real estate trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities.
OrbiMed, Pontifax Fund, RA Capital Management, EcoR1 Capital, Omega Funds, BVF Partners, Boxer Capital and Adage Capital Management also took part in the round.
Prevail is working on gene therapies to treat genetically-defined neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease. Its lead product candidate, known as PR001, is concentrated on a genetic subset of Parkinson’s and other related disorders.
OrbiMed and the Silverstein Foundation for Parkinson’s with GBA (glucocerebrosidase mutation carriers) formed and incubated Prevail in 2017, both also providing an undisclosed amount of seed capital for the startup.
Asa Abeliovich, founder and CEO of Prevail, said: “This financing supports our plan to develop a pipeline of gene therapies with the potential to dramatically improve the lives of patients with a range of genetically-defined neurodegenerative diseases.
“Our lead program will target patients with Parkinson’s disease, and we plan to address additional disease areas where lysosomal dysfunction is an underlying cause. We are pleased to have attracted the support of this group of leading life science investors as well as the Silverstein Foundation for Parkinson’s with GBA.”