Wren Therapeutics is a spin-off company from the University of Cambridge (UK) and Lund University (Sweden), focused on drug discovery for protein misfolding diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, type-2 diabetes, and many rare forms of amyloidosis.
Raised £12.4 million
Recently, Wren Therapeutics has secured a £12.4 million financing, bringing the total amount raised to approximately £33 million to date. The round was led by existing shareholder The Baupost Group, with participation from existing investors including LifeForce Capital and new investors including Schooner Capital and Industry Ventures.
The company is planning to use the funds to accelerate lead programs: amyloid-β and α-synuclein.
Dr. Samuel Cohen, Chief Executive Officer of Wren, comments: “This support from both our existing as well as our new shareholders will accelerate the advancement of our two lead small molecule programs towards the clinic for the potential treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and various synucleinopathies including Parkinson’s disease. The new capital, alongside our recently announced collaboration with Eisai, is a further endorsement of our unique chemical kinetics platform that has been industrialised by the Wren team over the previous four years, building on more than a decade of prior academic research. Our mission is to radically advance drug discovery for a wide range of protein misfolding diseases by creating molecules that will offer transformative therapeutic options for millions of patients globally suffering from these increasingly common medical disorders.”
Advancing an entirely novel approach
The company is using its unique approach to develop a broad pipeline of therapeutics for protein misfolding diseases. This makes it possible to map, and selectively modulate, the complex and non-linear chemical kinetic networks associated with misfolding proteins and disease.
Besides funding Wren has expanded its Board of directors and strengthened its leadership team with the appointments of Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach and Mr. Owen Hughes.
In addition, the company has also significantly expanded its scientific and business operations team including the appointment of Dr. Alleyn Plowright to the position of Head of Translational Science and Pre-Clinical Development.