– UK, Cambridge – LoQus23 Therapeutics Ltd. today announced the closing of its £7 million extended seed round secured from Novartis Venture Fund and founding investor the Dementia Discovery Fund.
Concurrent with the financing, Florian Muellershausen, Managing Director at NVF, will join the Board of Directors.
This round follows an initial £4.5 million seed investment by the DDF in 2019.
LoQus23 is a company discovering small molecule therapies that target aberrant DNA mismatch repair to treat Huntington’s and other triplet repeat diseases.
The financing will enable LoQus23 to identify a small molecule drug candidate for the company’s lead MMR target and explore other MMR proteins for their role in somatic instability in TRDs.
“We’re delighted that NVF is joining the Dementia Discovery Fund in this extended seed round. Small molecule therapies have an established precedent of efficacy and safety in treating CNS disorders, giving us greater confidence of success when using this approach to target aberrant DNA mismatch repair, and with NVF and DDF behind us LoQus23 is well-positioned to advance its pipeline of disease-modifying drugs in triplet repeat disorders,” said CEO and Co-Founder, David Reynolds.
Christian Jung, Partner at the Dementia Discovery Fund and Board Director at LoQus23, said: “This significant early interest in LoQus23 is a strong validation of the company’s approach to pursuing genetically-validated targets for the treatment of triplet repeat diseases. Discovering oral drugs that are effective against aberrant DNA mismatch repair could significantly improve the lives of patients with devastating genetic diseases like Huntington’s, and it’s great to see that both DDF and NVF have recognized the same potential in the company, which has rapidly become one of the frontrunners in the field of disease-modifying drugs in this TRD space.”
About LoQus23 Therapeutics Ltd
LoQus23 is a biotech company discovering oral therapies targeting aberrant DNA mismatch repair for the treatment of Huntington’s Disease and other triplet repeat disorders. Targeting DNA mismatch repair has the potential to stop DNA instability and therefore slow neurodegeneration in these diseases. LoQus23 is focused on using a structure-based approach to design small molecule drugs, which can offer more convenient administration than other approaches.
LouQs23 was founded in 2019 by members of the Dementia Discovery Fund including Dr. David Reynolds, Dr. Caroline Benn, and Dr. Ruth McKernan FMedsci CBE. The Company is headquartered in Cambridge, UK.
For more information: https://loqus23.com/
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