AMSTERDAM, Dec. 2, 2010 /PRNewswire/ — Regenesance BV, an
Amsterdam-based specialty pharma focusing on developing drugs to
treat acute and chronic nerve disorders, announces the closure of
its first seed stage financing round. The investment was made
by Life Sciences Fund Amsterdam, an independent venture capital
fund established in 2009 to finance biomedical companies in the
greater Amsterdam region.
Regenesance was established in November 2009 as a spin-out of
the Academic Medical Center Amsterdam (AMC Amsterdam). The
Company was founded on scientific work from AMC researcher Prof.
Frank Baas. He found that an innate part of the immune system
(“complement”) is activated during nerve degeneration.
Research from his lab suggests that by reducing complement
activation it may be possible to treat many diseases such as
multiple sclerosis (MS), myasthenia gravis (MG), and traumatic
brain injury (TBI).
MS is a chronic autoimmune disease that attacks the body’s
central nervous system. There is no cure. Damaged nerves
cannot communicate, leading to severe physical and cognitive
disabilities. In The Netherlands, about 16,000 people have the
disease with about 3 million afflicted worldwide. Prof. Baas
identified compounds that decrease complement activity and
significantly reduce disease severity in a research model of MS.
The Company will use funding to advance a lead compound into
a pre-clinical testing program required by national regulatory
authorities for drug approval. If successful, it would be as
a major step toward conducting a future MS clinical trial with a
pharma partner.
The founders of Regenesance are an international team with
extensive experience in the management of a life science
company. Dr. Frank Baas is a co-founder of the Company as
well as a Professor of Neurogenetics, Head of the Neurogenetics
Laboratory and Genome Analysis facility at AMC. Co-founders
Dr. Kee
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