AstronauTx raises £48m in ‘Series A’ financing to create new treatments for Alzheimer’s

AstronauTx, a biotech company founded by a group including UK DRI researchers, aiming to develop novel treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders, today announced the completion of a £48 million ($61 million) Series A financing.

AstronauTx was created by the Dementia Discovery Fund in 2019 with additional seed stage funding from the UCL Technology Fund and the UK Future Fund, with the goal of developing novel drugs to correct the disrupted physiology of the brain, partly through improving the support function of astrocytes, the most abundant cell type in the brain.

Prof Giles Hardingham (UK DRI at Edinburgh) is one of three academic founders of AstronauTx, along with Paul Whiting (UCL, formerly UK DRI at UCL) and Shane Liddelow (NYU).

The proceeds of the Series A financing will be used to advance the company’s portfolio of small-molecule drugs, including a clinical study in patients with Alzheimer’s disease for the lead programme. The treatments are expected to provide both symptomatic and disease modifying benefits.

Prof Giles Hardingham, Director of the UK DRI at Edinburgh and an academic founder of AstronauTx, said:

“The completion of Series A funding is a fantastic achievement by AstronauTx and paves the way for the translation of UK DRI research. We are making good progress in understanding how CNS physiology is disrupted in Alzheimer’s disease and are now seeing how these discoveries are relevant for developing disease-managing and modifying therapies. AstronauTx is a great example of how different parts of the dementia research ecosystem can cooperate under a common mission, and how publicly funded research from the MRC can lead to substantial investment from the private sector”

Article published: 9 October 2023
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