Gain Therapeutics raised $46 million through Nasdaq listing

Gain Therapeutics offers 3,636,364 shares of its common stock at a price of $11.00 per share. The shares began trading on the Nasdaq Global Market on March 18, 2021 under the symbol “GANX.” On the first trading day the shares closed at $11.20 valuing the company at about $130 million.

Gain Therapeutics is unlocking new treatment options for difficult-to-treat disorders characterized by protein misfolding, including lysosomal storage disorders, by identifying and optimizing allosteric binding sites that have never before been targeted. Its platform technology allows the identification of brain-penetrant small molecules that provide a gain-of-function of misfolded proteins.

Protein misfolding is an underlying biological issue of many diseases, including lysosomal storage disorders and some neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease. When a protein misfolds, its 3D structure is disrupted and it can no longer function properly. While some treatments are available for these types of disorders, they have significant limitations.

Three candidates in the pre-clinical stage

The company has three candidates in the pre-clinical stage. With the potential to address very large markets, Gain is initially focused on enzymes found in rare genetic diseases that share a genetic profile with more prevalent indications such as Parkinson’s Disease in order to most efficiently demonstrate proof of concept for its computational approach to drug discovery. The firm's lead candidate targets the GLB1 gene for the potential treatment of Morquio B and GM1 Gangliosidosis. Morquio B, also known as Mucopolysaccharidosis type IV (MPS IV), is a progressive disease mostly impacting the skeleton. GM1 Gangliosidosis is a hereditary, progressive disease mostly impacting neurons in the brain and spinal cord.

Founded in Ticino in 2017

Gain was originally established in 2017 with the support of its founders and institutional investors such as TiVenture, 3B Future Health Fund (previously known as Helsinn Investment Fund) and VitaTech. It has been awarded funding support from The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) and The Silverstein Foundation for Parkinson’s with GBA, as well as from the Eurostars-2 joint program with co-funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 research and Innosuisse.

In July 2020, Gain Therapeutics, Inc. completed a share exchange with Gain Therapeutics SA, a Swiss corporation, whereby GT Gain Therapeutics SA became a wholly owned subsidiary of Gain Therapeutics, Inc.