Trace Neuroscience Nets $101m In Series A Funding For Als, Dementia Therapy Development 

Trace Neuroscience Nets $101M in Series A Funding for ALS, Dementia Therapy Development

Biopharmaceutical company Trace Neuroscience announced it has raised $101 million in a Series A financing effort to develop new genomic therapies to treat neurodegenerative diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

The funding effort was led by Third Rock Ventures with Atlas Venture, GV and RA Capital Management also participating in the fund.

The specific drugs to be developed by Trace aim to restore key brain proteins that can “re-establish” healthy communication between muscle and nerve cells that are affected by neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of frontotemporal dementia.

The company’s lead therapeutic effort is aimed at improving the muscle function in people living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), including a sporadic form of ALS that affects nine out of 10 people with the disease.

“This is an exciting time in brain disease innovation, and we also see potential for treating frontotemporal dementia and over half of Alzheimer’s disease patients where TDP-43 pathology occurs and UNC13A is lost,” said co-founder Pietro Fratta, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience at University College London, Francis Crick Institute.

According to Trace co-founder Eric Green, MD, insights regarding the human genome have helped lead to “transformative medicines for many diseases,” noting that the “time was right” to apply this approach to ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.

Trace was founded after Green and Fratta linked abnormal functions of the TDP-43 protein with the loss of the UNC13A protein, a key component for communication between neurons in the human brain and spinal cord.

The post Trace Neuroscience Nets $101M in Series A Funding for ALS, Dementia Therapy Development  appeared first on Senior Housing News.