Gain Therapeutics spins off to develop treatments for rare metabolic disorders

Gain Therapeutics is a preclinical stage biotech company developing a class of next generation pharmacological chaperones for the treatment of rare diseases. Using the SEE-Tx technology, the startup will focus on a specific group of metabolic disorders called lysosomal storage disorders, which cause the severe and progressive degeneration of the nervous system. Gain Therapeutics has five discovery programs at various stages of development, all of which validate the platform and offer significant partnering opportunities.

With its headquarters in Lugano and a branch operating from Barcelona (Spain), Gain Therapeutics is funded by private Swiss investors and by the TiVenture fund, a seed and early stage venture capital fund investing in technology-driven companies in southern Switzerland belonging to the Fondazione Centenario BancaStato.

Following the spin off, researchers from the Minoryx laboratory at the Barcelona Science Park joined the new spin-off, under the scientific management of Xavier Barril, ICREA researcher and co-founder of Minoryx Therapeutics, inventor of the technology.

This new spin-off is part of Minoryx’s business strategy, in order to concentrate the company's efforts on the clinical candidate MIN-102.

“This deal validates the SEE-Tx platform and its great potential for identifying a new generation of pharmacological chaperones with improved properties,” said Dr Marc Martinell, co-founder and CEO of Minoryx Therapeutics. “It will also allow Minoryx to focus on its clinical candidate, MIN-102, which is now in phase II/III clinical trials for the treatment of X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy and in preclinical development for other orphan CNS diseases.”

“We are delighted to build on the excellent work done by Minoryx’s team. Using the SEE-Tx platform, it has already identified molecules that have the potential to become novel therapies for the treatment of several devastating rare diseases,” said Lorenzo Leoni, managing partner of TiVenture and ad-interim CEO of Gain Therapeutics. “We will invest in the further development of these molecules that should lead to the identification of clinical candidates in at least two independent programs. We are also happy to strengthen the cooperation between Barcelona and southern Switzerland, two regions with high innovation potential in the biomedical field.”

About Minoryx Therapeutics
Minoryx is a clinical stage biotech company leading the development of new therapies for X-linked Adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD) and other inborn errors of metabolism, a group of rare diseases of genetic origin with a high unmet medical need. The company’s leading program is MIN-102, which has multiple CNS indications beyond X-ALD. Minoryx is backed by a syndicate of experienced investors and has support from a network of other organizations. Minoryx was founded in 2011 and has to date raised a total of €24.4M.

(Press release/ran)