Arctic Therapeutics Announces $27.6 Million Financing

Rare Daily Staff

Reykjavik, Iceland-based Arctic Therapeutics completed a $27.6 million (€26.5 million) series A financing to advance therapies for both rare and common forms of dementia.

The investors included the European Innovation Council Fund, Iceland’s largest privately-held investment firm Kaldbakur, Investcorp-backed Sanos Group, Swiss-based Cerebrum DAO, The Lurie Family Foundation (established by U.S. billionaire Jeffery Lurie), as well as a consortium led by early investors and co-founders of Icelandic unicorn, Kerecis, and Copenhagen-listed Chemometec. Icelandic institutional investors and family offices also participated in the round.

Arctic was established in 2015 as a spin-off from the Center for Applied Genomics, a research center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia led by ATx co-founder Hakon Hakonarson. ATx leverages the power of applied genomics, steering the course of drug development towards safer, more effective treatments for some of the world’s most challenging diseases.

Last year, the European Medicines Agency approved a pivotal phase 2b/3 clinical trial evaluating AT-001 for the treatment of Hereditary Cystatin C Amyloid Angiopathy (HCCAA), a rare form of familial dementia. The new funding will allow ATx to explore the potential of AT-001, an oral treatment designed to prevent the aggregation of harmful amyloid proteins in the brain, in other forms of familial dementia, and eventually Alzheimer’s disease.

The funds will also be used to launch a phase 2a clinical trial for AT-004 in Europe. The therapeutic goal of AT-004 is to demonstrate safety and efficacy in acne vulgaris before expanding into other inflammatory skin diseases, including atopic dermatitis, rosacea, and psoriasis.

“Recent advances in understanding the role of amyloid proteins and the critical importance of preventing and dissolving plaque formation in the brain underscore the transformative potential of our approach to significantly slow or even prevent these devastating diseases,” said Ivar Hakonarson, ATx co-founder and CEO.

Photo: Ivar Hakonarson, ATx co-founder and CEO