Regenacy Pharmaceuticals, a US-based developer of diabetic neuropathy treatments, completed a $30m series A round yesterday that included drug discovery technology and services provider Viva Biotech Holdings.
Investment firm Cobro Ventures and venture capital firm Taiwania Capital Management co-led the round, which also featured Yonjin Venture, a subsidiary of financial holding company Yonjin Group, as well as 3E Bioventures Capital and Ta Ya Venture Holdings.
Founded in 2016, Regenacy is working on treatments for diabetic peripheral neuropathy, a condition where a patient’s nerves are damaged as a by-product of their diabetes.
The company was formed when pharmaceutical firm Celgene agreed to acquire one of its portfolio companies, small molecule therapy developer Acetylon, with drug candidates including ricolinostat, an inhibitor of the HDAC6 enzyme, being transferred to Regenacy.
The series A funding will support the progress of ricolinostat into a phase 2 proof-of-concept trial for diabetic peripheral neuropathy.
The candidate could also be utilised to treat chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy and an inherited neuropathy known as Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.
Simon Jones, president and CEO of Regenacy, said: “Our preclinical studies demonstrate that selectively inhibiting HDAC6 has the potential to safely restore nerve function in multiple peripheral neuropathies, and we are looking forward to advancing our lead program into phase 2 studies this year.”
Michael Huang of Taiwania Capital, Frank Yan from 3E Bioventures Capital and Daguang Wang of Yonjin Venture have taken board seats at Regenacy in connection with the round. Locust Walk advised Regenacy on the transaction.
