Rare Daily Staff
RNA interference therapy developer Atalanta Therapeutics completed a $97 million series B financing to support phase 1 clinical trials of the company’s experimental RNAi therapies for KCNT1-related epilepsy and Huntington’s disease.
EQT Life Sciences and Sanofi Ventures co-lead the round, with participation from other new investors RiverVest Venture Partners, funds managed by abrdn Inc, Novartis Venture Fund, Pictet Alternative Advisors, Mirae Asset Financial Group, and GHR Foundation alongside existing investor F-Prime Capital.
Atalanta has proprietary divalent or di-siRNA technology that addresses a central limitation in using RNA interference to treat neurological diseases. These conditions have been difficult to treat with RNAi therapies because of challenges of achieving distribution throughout the central nervous system. In many neurodegenerative conditions, it is necessary to thoroughly reach all affected brain areas. The company’s di-siRNA technology enables RNA interference to be deployed as a therapeutic approach throughout the brain and spinal cord.
“This financing validates the truly transformative potential of Atalanta’s best-in-class di-siRNA platform for delivering oligonucleotide therapies to the central nervous system and the exciting promise of our expansive wholly-owned pipeline,” said Alicia Secor, Atalanta’s president and CEO. “This series B will support a path to the clinic for two programs for serious neurological diseases that today lack disease-modifying therapies.”
ATL-201 is Atalanta’s experimental therapy for KCNT1-related epilepsy, an early-onset seizure disorder and encephalopathy driven by gain-of-function variants in the KCNT1 gene. Infants and children with KCNT1-related epilepsy have severe, frequent seizures that are unable to be controlled with anti-seizure medications, and they often experience developmental delays and intellectual disability. ATL-201 is designed to reduce KCNT1 levels and to normalize neuronal excitability. Preclinical studies have shown that ATL-201 produces a significant reduction of seizures and improvement in behavior with impressive durability and tolerability.
The company’s second development candidate, ATL-101, is a di-siRNA designed to silence the HTT gene for the treatment of Huntington’s disease. Huntington’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease caused by an expansion of the HTT gene, which leads to deterioration in a person’s physical, cognitive, and psychiatric abilities.
Preclinical studies have shown that a single dose of ATL-101 produces a potent and strong reduction in HTT expression, including in deep brain regions, with six months of durability and excellent tolerability.
In conjunction with this financing, the company appointed Arno de Wilde, managing director at EQT Life Sciences; Jason Hafler, managing director of Sanofi Ventures; and Niall O’Donnell, managing director of RiverVest Venture Partners to its board of directors.
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