Neurodegenerative disease company Transquis has emerged from stealth with $30m in series A funding to advance research conducted at Stanford.
Tranquis Therapeutics, a US-based immuno-neurology therapy developer exploiting research from Stanford University, has raised $30m in a series A round co-led by pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline.
The round was co-led by venture capital firm Remiges Ventures and also featured Vivo Capital, Hillsborough Venture, Correlation Ventures and undisclosed other investors. GlaxoSmithKline participated through its corporate venturing arm, SR One.
Tranquis is working on treatments for neurodegenerative and ageing-related diseases triggered by dysfunction in myeloid immune cells. The approach could herald treatments for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s among others.
The company’s technology is based on research conducted by scientific co-founder Edgar Engleman, professor of pathology and medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine.
Sanjay Kakkar, president and CEO of Tranquis, said. “With the support of our investors and proceeds from the series A financing, we plan to complete the non-clinical development work for our pipeline program, TQS-168, and advance it toward clinical proof-of-concept in orphan diseases such as ALS or FTD, while further expanding our discovery platform and pipeline with next generation compounds.
“We also have identified an on-target biomarker that will help inform and possibly accelerate our clinical development program.”
Tranquis has not disclosed details of its seed financing, though SR One partner Rajeev Dadoo, a member of its board of directors, revealed the unit had already backed the startup at seed stage.
– A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.
