Cambridge University intellectual property is set to create a potential treatment for increased blood pressure in pulmonary circulation.
Morphogen-IX, a UK-based biotech spinout of Cambridge University, has raised £1.5m ($1.6m) from a consortium including Cambridge Innovation Capital and Cambridge Enterprise Seed funds.
Cambridge Innovation Capital is the university’s venturing fund, while Cambridge Enterprise Seed Funds is the business creation and funding division of tech transfer office Cambridge Enterprise.
Venture capital firm Index Ventures also took part in the round.
Morphogen-IX is developing a therapy for pulmonary arterial hypertension, a type of high blood pressure that affects arteries in the lungs and heart. The treatment targets a major pathway for the disease that has been shown to be involved though genetic studies.
Currently available medication is only able to manage the symptoms rather than cure the disease.
Andrew Walsh, technology manager at Cambridge Enterprise, said: “I am very happy with the establishment of Morphogen-IX. Pulmonary arterial hypertension is a devastating disease and this company will be solely dedicated to developing a therapy that will, for the first time, tackle the disease itself rather than attempt to manage the symptoms.”
Robert Tansley, investment director at Cambridge Innovation Capital, said” “The creation of Morphogen-IX represents another exciting opportunity to translate world-leading science conducted in Cambridge into a novel treatment that has the potential to bring benefit in this serious condition.”
