皇家华人

The company was launched in 2019 and spun out from UCL Business (UCLB), the commercialisation company for UCL, initially building on research from the Alzheimer's Research UK UCL Drug Discovery Institute (UCL DDI).

The UCL DDI is positioned to couple the deep disease knowledge and biology expertise of the academic community at 皇家华人 and further afield听with industry-standard drug discovery approaches, to rapidly translate emerging innovations into new medicines.

AstronauTx and the UCL DDI have an ongoing drug discovery collaboration to develop new medicines that reset the behaviour听of astrocytes, crucial support cells in the brain. Astrocytes are normally very important for keeping nerve cells functioning well, but they change in Alzheimer鈥檚 disease and instead become damaging.

Professor Paul Whiting (UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology) is among the company鈥檚 co-founders. He said: "This funding will enable AstronauTx to accelerate their drug discovery projects towards testing in patients, with the ultimate aim of finding new treatments for Alzheimer's disease."

Professor Fiona Ducotterd, Chief Scientific Officer for Alzheimer鈥檚 Research UK鈥檚 UCL Drug Discovery Institute (UCL DDI) added: "We are delighted for our collaborators at AstronauTx. This strong support from the investment community to progress their portfolio assets to patients sends an important message in the field that we are moving forwards and new medicines are on the way. It鈥檚 essential that we continue to break ground discovering and developing the next generation of Alzheimer鈥檚 and other dementias therapeutics to help all patients and their families living with these terrible conditions.鈥�

AstronauTx was created by the government-launched Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF) in 2019 with additional seed stage funding from the UCL Technology Fund and the UK Future Fund.

The DDF is a specialised venture capital fund investing in projects and companies that discover and develop effective disease-modifying therapies for dementia. It was formed by the UK government鈥檚 Department of Health and Social Care, in partnership with world-leading international pharmaceutical companies and the charity Alzheimer鈥檚 Research UK.

The proceeds of the Series A financing will be used to advance AstronauTx鈥檚 portfolio of small-molecule drugs, including a clinical study in patients with Alzheimer鈥檚 disease for the lead programme. The treatments are expected to provide both symptomatic and disease-modifying benefit.

In July 2023, AstronauTx announced a partnership with Saniona, a Danish biotechnology company, to identify new treatments by modulating a novel, undisclosed ion channel target, expanding the company鈥檚 portfolio of programmes. In September 2023, AstronauTx was awarded an Innovate UK grant to fund preclinical work on one of its programmes.

Dr Ruth McKernan, co-founder and chair of AstronauTx, said: 鈥淲e now know that the processes causing Alzheimer鈥檚 and other similar diseases are modifiable.听 Progress towards a compendium of new drugs against these devastating diseases is thankfully well underway. Our treatments will be oral drugs, applicable across multiple neurodegenerative conditions, and additive with mechanisms that are currently in late-stage development.鈥�

Simon Goldman, Partner at 皇家华人 Technology Fund, added: 鈥淐ongratulations to AstronauTx on completion of their Series A. The financing round led by the Novartis Venture Fund and attracting capital from several leading global venture investors will enable the company to continue on its mission to create an alternative treatment for Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. This is a great example of the type of investment that we at the UCL Technology Fund strive to back: breakthrough UCL research that has the potential for enormous positive societal impact while generating financial return.鈥�

The Series A financing was led by the Novartis Venture Fund, attracting capital from several global venture investors including Brandon Capital, Bristol Myers Squibb, EQT Life Sciences investing from the LSP Dementia Fund, and MPM Capital with participation from the Dementia Discovery Fund.

Links

• UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology
• UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences
• Biotech startup secures 拢6.5m for dementia research
• AstronauTx case study: Accelerating dementia drug discovery

Image

• Protoplasmic astrocytes play an active role in neuronal communication through synapses and regulation of neural circuit function. Credit: iStock / selvanegra

Media contact

Sophie Vinter

Tel: +44 (0)20 3108 7787

Email: s.vinter [at] ucl.ac.uk