Rare Daily Staff
Rheostat Therapeutics said it completed a $23 million series A financing round that will be used to advance its neurodegenerative and rare disease programs towards clinical trials.
MRLV and AbbVie Ventures co-led the round, which included Amgen Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments and Mayo Clinic. Existing investors SV Health Investors and the Dementia Discovery Fund also participated.
As part of this latest round of financing the company said it will be expanding its board to include Reza Halse, president of MRLV, and John Gustofson, managing director at AbbVie Ventures.
Rheostat, which was incubated and seeded by SV Health Investors and the Dementia Discovery Fund, is developing novel treatments for neurodegenerative disease through modulation of mitophagy and autophagy. Mitophagy involves the degradation of damaged mitochondria—the powerhouses of the cell—through autophagy, a natural process of clearing damaged cellular components.
The company believes that the degradation of toxic cellular components is a fundamental node of biology. The mutations that impair these clearance pathways have been linked with multiple neurodegenerative diseases, many of which are associated with cognitive impairment.
The company is working to leverage its understanding of these pathways to discover and develop novel small molecules that will restore cellular balance and treat neurodegenerative and rare diseases.
“Mitophagy and autophagy represent a fundamental, powerful node of biology with the real potential to improve the lives of patients suffering from a range of neurodegenerative diseases and senescence,” said Joshua Resnick, chairman and interim CEO of the company. “Our investors have provided our world-class scientific team with the funding to continue to build Rheostat and advance our programs toward the clinic.”
November 26, 2018
Photo: Joshua Resnick, chairman and interim CEO of the company
Stay Connected
Sign up for updates straight to your inbox.