Imstar gets the backing of BDC Capital and Accel-Rx in advancing its preclinical work on its potential treatment for Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS) in a $1.8m seed round.
Imstar Therapeutics, a Canada-based biotechnology company, has raised $1.8m in a seed round led by a partnership of Accel-Rx and BDC Capital, the investment division of Business Development Bank of Canada.
Accel-Rx is a health sciences accelerator in which BDC Capital is a founding partner.
They were joined by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease) treatment commercialisation company Avitx. BDC Capital and Accel-Rx both contributed $500,000 to the round, while Avitx provided the remaining capital.
Imstar, founded in 2012, is working to develop treatments for ALS and other neurodegenerative disorders. Its technology is based on research carried out at Université Laval and targets a specific pathway used by the disorders.
Funding from the round will be used by Imstar to advance its preclinical work.
Dan Wattier, chief executive of Imstar Therapeutics, said: “Our strategy is to get to human proof-of-concept. If the observed drug activity of [our lead drug candidate] were to translate to comparable efficacy in human clinical trials, this could represent a significant advance in the treatment of ALS.”
– This article first appeared on our sister site Global Government Venturing.
