Zurich brain injury antibody spinout NovaGo has extended its strategic partnership with immunotherapy company Neurimmune by securing its support in a series A round.
NovaGo Therapeutics, a Switzerland-based developer of therapeutic antibodies for brain injury spun out of University of Zurich, has closed a CHF10m ($10m) series A round co-led by immunotherapy developer Neurimmune.
Neurimmune co-led the round with biopharmaceuticals-focused venture fund Pureos Bioventures.
Founded in 2015, NovaGo Therapeutics is working on antibody candidates to restore neurological function to the brain following cerebral strokes and injuries to the spinal cord.
The antibodies would block an inhibitory factor called Nogo-A shown to impair nerve fibre growth, and thus neurological recovery, in the central nervous system during preclinical animal studies.
NovaGo will use the capital to bring its drugs to the clinic. It currently has two candidates awaiting clinical trials – one targeting stroke and the other spinal cord injury. Dominik Escher, partner at Pureos Bioventures, will join the NovaGo board of directors.
Neurimmune previously entered a strategic partnership with NovaGo to uncover Nogo-A inhibiting antibodies with Neurimmune’s reverse translational medicine platform, which applies genetic information gathered from immune cells of healthy-aged people.
NovaGo was founded by its board president, Martin Schwab, professor for brain research at University of Zurich’s Brain Research Institute and professor of neuroscience at Federal Institute of Technology Zurich.
Schwab said: “We are very pleased that we succeeded in securing additional funds in support of the development of our human antibodies. Neurimmune and Pureos Bioventures share our vision of developing a therapy for regeneration after stroke.
“We welcome Dominik to our board of directors. His wealth of executive biotech experience will be instrumental for advancing NovaGo.”
