Myrobalan Therapeutics has secured $24m in a Series A funding round to develop CNS therapeutics with restorative potential.
Co-win Ventures led the financing round, with both new and current investors taking part.
The Guan Zi Equity Investment Partnership, AB Magnitude Ventures Group and 3E Bioventures Capital were among the participants.
The biotechnology company is focused on overcoming historical challenges in CNS drug development, such as the lack of established target biology.
Effective blood-brain barrier penetration and the viability of long-term treatment with a suitable and tolerable dosing regimen add to the challenges.
Myrobalan's approach involves developing brain-penetrant, highly selective, orally available products.
These compounds target new mechanisms linked to demyelination and neuroinflammation, which are associated with multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease and other rare neurological ailments.
Myrobalan Therapeutics CEO and co-founder Dr Jing Wang stated: “Our deep understanding of remyelination and neuroinflammation has broad application in high-unmet need CNS diseases.
“Propelled by our foundational science, strategic chemistry partnership, compelling preclinical data and strong investors, Myrobalan is in a unique position to advance its neurorestorative candidates into the clinic.”
The company's new oral neurorestorative drugs fix damage and reinstate neural function in degenerative CNS ailments with high unmet needs.
The therapies being developed by Myrobalan include an antagonist to G-protein coupled receptor 17, a key target to stimulate remyelination.
A colony-stimulating factor-1 receptor inhibitor is also in the pipeline. CSF1R is associated with demyelination and neuroinflammation.
Myrobalan's portfolio also includes an inhibitor of allosteric tyrosine kinase 2 to lower neuroinflammation.
With these programmes, the company plans to address a wide range of neurological ailments.
Co-win Ventures managing partner Dr Xin Huang stated: “We are proud to support Myrobalan in their work to develop first-in-class neurorestorative therapies based on strong target biology and innovative drug design.
“And we are confident the Myrobalan team will continue advancing this rich pipeline into novel therapies. Myrobalan has the potential to change the narrative for patients with CNS disease.”
