Atsena actions $55m series A

Atsena Therapeutics, a US-based vision loss therapy developer leveraging University of Florida (UF) research, closed a $55m series A round backed by its founding institution yesterday.
The round was led by venture firm Sofinnova Partners and also featured spinout-focused investment firm Osage University Partners (OUP) and RD Fund, a vehicle for research charity Foundation Fighting Blindness.
Bioscience investment firm Abingworth helped round off the transaction along with Lightstone Ventures, Hatteras Venture Partners and Manning Family Foundation.
Founded in 2019, Atsena Therapeutics is progressing gene therapy programmes to address inherited causes of blindness.
The series B cash will drive ongoing phase 1/2 clinical studies on Atsena’s lead candidate, indicated for GUCY2D-associated Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA1), a vision loss disorder that afflicts children.
Atsena will prepare for a large-scale, phase 3 trial of its main candidate by ramping up its manufacturing capacity and will also progress two preclinical programmes indicated for other inherited causes of blindness.
Sarah Bhagat, partner at Sofinnova, will join the board of directors, as will Jason Lettmann, general partner at Lightstone Ventures, and Jackie Grant, principal at Abingworth.
Pharmaceutical firm Sanofi licensed Atsena the LCA1 drug in June 2020, having previously acquired the rights from UF. The foundational research was co-led by Shannon Boye and Sanford Boye, two faculty members in the Department of Paediatrics.
Patrick Ritschel, chief executive of Atsena, said: “We are grateful for the support of our new and existing investors and are encouraged by their enthusiasm for the potential of our technology to overcome the unique hurdles of inherited retinal diseases to prevent or reverse blindness.”
Atsena previously closed an $8.2m round, dubbed a series 1, in April 2020 co-led by Hatteras Venture Partners and RD Fund with participation from UF, OUP and PBM Capital.