Polyneuron completes CHF3 million seed financing

Since the initial seed financing tranche, Polyneuron has met several key milestones, such as delivering preclinical proof of principle with its lead asset PN-1007, concluding a key licensing agreement with the University of Basel and expanding the team. Today the biotech start-up announced the closing of a CHF3.1 million financing, following the receipt of a second tranche. The financing was led by EVA Basel and included the Zürcher Kantonalbank and private investors. Polyneuron is headquartered at the Basel Inkubator. 

The proceeds will be used to advance its lead asset, PN-1007, to clinical development for the treatment of the rare nervous system disease, anti-MAG neuropathy, and advance additional applications of its Antibody-Catch technology platform. This technology enables the chemical design of injectable, biodegradable glycopolymers to eliminate autoimmune disease-causing autoantibodies, while leaving the immune system intact.

“We believe there is great potential in our approach to treating devastating autoimmune diseases of the nervous system where the pathological role of anti-carbohydrate autoantibodies is well established and will shortly begin the next round of fundraising to advance key assets to clinical proof of principle,” said Ruben Herrendorff, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Polyneuron.

Former GlycoVaxyn CSO joins Polyneuron
Concurrent with the financing, Polyneuron announced the appointment of Gerhard Müller as Chairman and Michael Wacker as Chief Business Officer. Michael Wacker has more than fifteen years’ experience in life science industry and is a board member of various life science companies. Most recently, he was Chief Scientific Officer and member of the Board of Directors of GlycoVaxyn, a company that he co-founded in 2004 that was acquired for more than $200million by GlaxoSmithKline in February 2015.

Gerhard Müller is an experienced drug hunter who has successfully managed research units and led drug discovery projects within the pharmaceutical, the CRO, and the biotech industry.

About Antibody-Catch
Antibody-Catch is a platform technology developed by Polyneuron to facilitate the rational design of drugs that bind and eliminate disease-causing autoantibodies in autoimmune diseases. The drug candidates are chemically produced, biodegradable, high-molecular weight glycopolymers that offer multiple epitope-mimics to the autoantibodies. After injection, the drug serves as a decoy for the autoantibody, which then is sequestered and eliminated from the body. This highly specific treatment approach is fundamentally new and could potentially enable treatment options for previously incurable diseases. Polyneuron currently focuses on autoimmune diseases which involve autoantibodies against carbohydrate epitopes.

(Press release)