Pharma, Startups

Lysosomal Therapeutics raises $20M Series A from Sanofi, Lilly and Roche for Parkinson’s drug

Cambridge biotech Lysosomal Therapeutics just raised a whopping $20 million Series A for its small […]

Cambridge biotech Lysosomal Therapeutics just raised a whopping $20 million Series A for its small molecule Parkinson’s disease treatment, with backing from the venture arms of several big pharma – Sanofi, Lilly and Roche.

The company will use the proceeds of this round to optimize its main compound, and preclinically develop a glucocerebrosidase lysosomal enzyme activator to treat Parkinson’s. The funding is also supporting a biomarker initiative, which already has funding from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, that will help select patients for clinical trials and patient selection. This biomarker project will help researchers find the genetic links between other lysosomal storage disorders and neurodegenerative diseases, the company said in a statement.

The round includes Atlas Venture, Hatteras Venture Partners, Lilly Ventures, Sanofi-Genzyme BIoVentures, Roche Venture Fund, Partners Innovation Fund and several of the original angels such as Orion Equity Partners, and LTI co-founders Henri Termeer and Bob Carpenter. The company brought in a $4.8 million seed round just last May, indicative of some serious interest in this approach to neurological drugs.

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