1 April 2019 - - Switzerland-based Polyneuron Pharmaceuticals AG, a developer of a new class of biodegradable glycopolymers for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, has closed an oversubscribed CHF22.5m series A financing, the company said.

The round was led by Sofinnova Partners and co-led by New Enterprise Associates, with the participation of existing investors.

The proceeds will be used to perform a first-in-human trial with the company's lead product, PN-1007, a potential treatment for anti-MAG neuropathy, a rare nervous system disease.

The proceeds will also be used to broaden its Antibody-Catch product portfolio by advancing three programs through preclinical development.

Using the Antibody-Catch technology, Polyneuron designs injectable, biodegradable glycopolymers that are able to target and eliminate the pathological antibodies causing autoimmune diseases, while leaving the rest of the immune system intact.

In conjunction with the financing, Polyneuron has expanded its board of directors to include two new members Graziano Seghezzi of Sofinnova Partners, and David Mott of NEA.

Sofinnova Partners is a European venture capital firm specialised in Life Sciences. Based in Paris, France, the firm brings together a team of professionals from all over Europe, the US and China.

New Enterprise Associates is a global venture capital firm focused on helping entrepreneurs build transformational businesses across multiple stages, sectors and geographies. With more than USD 20bn in cumulative committed capital since the firm's first fund closed in 1978, NEA invests in technology and healthcare companies at all stages in a company's lifecycle, from seed stage through IPO.

The firm's long track record of successful investing includes more than 225 portfolio company IPOs and more than 375 acquisitions. 

Polyneuron Pharmaceuticals is developing a novel therapeutic approach for the effective and safe treatment of antibody-mediated autoimmune diseases of the nervous system where a pathological role of anti-carbohydrate autoantibodies is well established.

The company's Antibody-Catch technology platform enables the chemical design of injectable glycopolymers that are able to selectively eliminate the pathological autoantibodies, while leaving the rest of the immune system intact.

Polyneuron was founded as a University of Basel, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, spin-off in 2014 by Dr. Ruben Herrendorff, Dr. Pascal Hänggi, Prof.

Beat Ernst, an expert in carbohydrate-based drug discovery, and neurologist Prof. Dr. med. Andreas J. Steck, an expert in autoimmune disorders of the nervous system.

The company is headquartered at the Stücki Park in Basel, Switzerland, and has been supported by the BaseLaunch Accelerator initiative.

Antibody-Catch is a platform technology developed by Polyneuron to facilitate the rational design of drugs that bind and eliminate disease-causing autoantibodies in autoimmune diseases.

The drug candidates are chemically produced, biodegradable, high-molecular weight glycopolymers that offer multiple epitope-mimics to the autoantibodies.

After injection, the drug serves as a decoy for the autoantibody, which then is sequestered and eliminated from the body.

This highly specific treatment approach is fundamentally new and could potentially enable treatment options for previously incurable diseases. Polyneuron currently focuses on autoimmune diseases which involve autoantibodies against carbohydrate epitopes.

PN-1007 was designed to target the IgM autoantibodies that cause anti-MAG neuropathy, a disabling chronic disorder of the peripheral nervous system that has no approved treatment. PN-1007 mimics the natural HNK-1 carbohydrate epitope and binds to the circulating disease-causing antibodies.

By eliminating these pathogenic antibodies, PN-1007 may protect the integrity of the neuronal myelin sheaths of anti-MAG patients. Polyneuron has obtained orphan drug designation from the European Medicines Agency for PN-1007 in anti-MAG neuropathy.