ProJenX Raises $15 Million to Advance Brain-Penetrant Therapies

Rare Daily Staff

ProJenX, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel, brain-penetrant therapies targeting biologically-defined pathways for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and other debilitating brain diseases, said it raised $15 million in an initial close of a series A financing.

Medical Excellence Capital, which led the company’s seed financing round and created ProJenX in collaboration with Project ALS and researchers at Columbia University, led the series A and will fund the continued development of ProJenX’s lead compound, prosetin, for the treatment of ALS.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disorder caused by motor neuron death in the brain and spinal cord. Motor neuron loss in ALS leads to deteriorating muscle function, the inability to move and speak, respiratory paralysis, and eventually, death. More than 90 percent of people with ALS have sporadic disease, showing no clear family history. ALS affects approximately 29,000 people in the United States.

“We are focused on accelerating the development of prosetin to meet the critical need for new treatments for people living with ALS,” said Stan Abel, president and CEO of ProJenX. “We are encouraged by the therapeutic window emerging from our phase 1 trial and ongoing nonclinical studies and are looking forward to advancing prosetin to people living with ALS in early 2024.”

Prosetin is a first-in-class, novel, selective, oral, brain-penetrant, MAP4K inhibitor. MAP4Ks were discovered as critical regulators of neuronal survival in a patient-specific, cell-based discovery platform developed by ProJenX co-founders at Columbia University, and prosetin was optimized for potency against MAP4Ks, efficacy in motor neuron rescue, and preferential distribution to the CNS.

Photo: Stan Abel, president and CEO of ProJenX