Belgium-based drug developer Syndesi Therapeutics has raised €17m ($20.8m) in a series A round co-led by Novo Seeds, a corporate venturing unit owned by pharmaceutical firm Novo.
Venture capital firm Fountain Healthcare Partners co-led the round, which included healthcare group Johnson & Johnson’s corporate venturing arm, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, and V-Bio Ventures, an investment affiliate of research institute VIB.
Walloon government-owned investment firm Société régionale d’Investissement de Wallonie and Vives Louvain Technology Fund, the university venture fund of Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), completed the round’s investors.
Syndesi was spun out of biopharmaceutical firm UCB earlier this month to develop treatments for a range of diseases caused by synaptic dysfunction, such as Alzheimer’s disease.
The funding will enable the company to move its lead compound into clinical development and through to early proof-of-concept studies in humans.
Novo Seeds principal Morten Graugaard Døssing said: “Cognitive impairment remains an area of significant unmet need for patients not only with Alzheimer’s Disease but also more broadly across a range of neurological disorders, and we are excited about the potential promise of this novel therapeutic approach.”
– The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.