The Johns Hopkins University spinout’s latest funding will go toward further developing its lead candidate, VTA-110, for muscular dystrophy treatments.
Vita Therapeutics, a US-based cell engineering spinout of Johns Hopkins University, has secured $20m in a round led by ageing research group Cambrian Biopharma, Baltimore Business Journal has reported.
Founded in 2019, Vita is working on stem cells that can contribute to muscle regeneration in patients suffering from muscular dystrophy – a type of genetic disease that causes muscle mass to weaken progressively.
Gabsang Lee, a neurology and neuroscience associate professor at Johns Hopkins, and Kathryn Wagner, director of the university-affiliated Kennedy Krieger Institute’s Center for Genetic Muscle Disorders, are the inventors of the patent.
The cash will be used to continue developing its lead therapy candidate dubbed VTA-110.
The product has completed preclinical studies and received the US Food and Drug Administration’s orphan drug designation, which are medications for rare diseases affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the country and are eligible for government support.
The company had reportedly raised $2.3m in equity funding from undisclosed investors in January 2020.
