Alms enjoys generosity of $17.6m round

Alms Therapeutics, a France-based diabetes treatment spinout of University of Strasbourg, closed a €15m ($17.6m) series A round today featuring multi-region seed fund Cap Innov’Est and investment firm Morningside Venture Capital.
Founded in 2017, Alms Therapeutics is working on new drugs to treat type 2 diabetes.
The spinout’s thesis centres on modulating adipocytes – cells programmed to store energy as fat – in the body to help reduce the patient’s blood sugar levels. As it does not involve insulin, the method could be particularly valuable for diabetes patients resistant to traditional insulin-based therapies.
Alms Therapeutics is led by Vincent Marion, deputy director of the Laboratory of Medical Genetics at University of Strasbourg. The series A funding will enable his team to progress development ahead of clinical proof-of-concept testing.
Alms Therapeutics previously obtained $650,000 in capital provided through regional tech transfer office Satt Conectus’s proof-of-concept maturation program, though a date for the transaction could not be ascertained.
Nicolas Carboni, president of Satt Conectus, which is focused on the Alsace region of France, said: “It is above all the quality of Vincent Marion’s scientific production and his flawless commitment in the maturation project that allowed this success.
“This project illustrates once again the capacity of our institutions, universities and agencies to create economic value and employment from the results of high-quality academic research.”