Therachon Raises $60 Million to Advance Achondroplasia Drug and Expand Pipeline

Rare Daily Staff

Therachon said it has completed a $60 million financing that will be used to advance its experimental therapy in development for achondroplasia and expand its rare disease pipeline.

Novo Holdings led the financing and was joined by new investors Cowen Healthcare Investments, Pfizer Ventures, and funds managed by Tekla Capital Management. Existing investors Versant Ventures, OrbiMed, Bpifrance and Inserm Transfert Initiative also participated in the round.

Therachon plans to use the proceeds to advance the company’s lead pipeline candidate TA-46, a novel protein therapeutic for achondroplasia, the most common form of disproportionate short stature in humans. TA-46 is being developed as a weekly subcutaneous therapy for children and adolescents living with achondroplasia.

Therachon is currently conducting a phase 1 randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial to evaluate the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of single and multiple increasing doses of TA-46 in healthy volunteers. Therachon has also recently started a natural history study that will prospectively assess the burden of complications of achondroplasia in approximately 200 children across multiple sites in Europe, Canada, and the United States and will enable the start of treatment studies in children with achondroplasia in 2019.

“With this financing, we will be able to devote more resources to our lead clinical program in achondroplasia,” said Luca Santarelli, CEO of Therachon. “Additionally, we look forward to exploring additional pipeline opportunities in the rare disease space.”

In conjunction with the financing, the company said it has added Jørgen Søberg Petersen, venture partner at Novo Holdings, and Timothy Anderson, director of Cowen Healthcare Investments, to its board of directors.

August 9, 2018
Photo: Luca Santarelli, CEO of Therachon