Booster Therapeutics raises $15 million seed financing led by Apollo Health Ventures and Novo Holdings
Booster Therapeutics’ proteasome activation approach designed to achieve wider degradation of harmful proteins than current targeted protein degraders
Harmful protein accumulation implicated in range of complex diseases also linked to proteasome dysfunction
COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Oct. 10, 2024 — Novo Holdings, a leading global life sciences investor, today announced the launch of Booster Therapeutics (Booster / the Company), a biotechnology company developing a new class of proteasome activator medicines to treat neurodegenerative and other diseases. The launch is accompanied by a $15 million seed financing round led by Apollo Health Ventures and Novo Holdings.
Novo Holdings will play a central role in helping to further build Booster in its next phase of growth, bringing hands-on operational expertise, strategic guidance and helping the Company access a larger network of talent. Novo Holdings will further leverage the expertise in its group of entrepreneurs-in-residence, as well as the Seed Lab wet-lab capabilities in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Proteasomes play an important role in the clearing of dysfunctional proteins. Booster is leading a new field of protein degradation via small molecules that activate and restore the function of 20S proteasomes. These proteasomes naturally and directly recognise and degrade a wide range of misfolded or otherwise damaged proteins in contrast to conventional protein degradation therapeutics, which only degrade one target protein at a time. Activation of the 20S proteasome can remove a wide range of disease-causing proteins and thus address more complex diseases caused by multiple concurrent proteinopathies.
With a vision of a multi-disease pipeline, Booster will initially focus on major neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. This group of diseases generally carries a tremendous burden of disease for patients, families and the healthcare system due to their progressive and severe nature and a lack of disease-modifying therapeutics.
Booster was founded by the pioneering work of Dr. Diogo Feleciano and University of California Irvine Professor Dr. Darci Trader, as part of the company creation efforts of Apollo Health Ventures. The Company was built on the idea that small molecules could be used to trigger natural proteasome processes. Their DGRADX™ platform, which was conceived in Prof. Trader’s laboratory, combines proprietary methods for automated high-throughput screening with advanced structural and computational tools to develop Booster’s novel proteasome activator compounds.
“Proteasome activation is a truly novel concept because it can potentially transform how we address some of the most multi-factorial diseases. Booster’s deep expertise in proteasome biology means it is well positioned to deliver on first-in-class medicines and expand the protein degradation landscape to more comprehensively address protein dysfunction and impact more disease areas,” said Dr. João Ribas, Principal at Novo Holdings, Seed Investments and Interim Chief Business Officer and Board Member, Booster Therapeutics. “We’re excited to join efforts with Apollo and the Booster team in order to take this novel therapeutic concept forward for the benefit of patients.”
The Company and corporate strategy will be led by Dr. Diogo Feleciano as Chief Scientific Officer and Dr. João Ribas as interim Chief Business Officer. Dr. Patrick Trojer, Co-Founder of Constellation Pharmaceuticals and current Chief Executive Officer & President of TRIANA Biomedicines will serve as Chair of Booster’s Board of Directors.
About Booster Therapeutics
Booster Therapeutics is pioneering a new class of medicines that activate the cell’s natural quality control machinery to treat a range of complex indications. Booster’s small molecule therapeutics, discovered through the DGRADX™ platform, are designed to directly boost the activity of 20S proteasomes to restore the body’s ability to clear disease-causing proteins. The Company is developing a multi-disease pipeline, with an initial focus on neurodegenerative diseases associated with impaired proteasome function such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. Booster is based in Berlin, Germany. For more information, visit www.boostertx.com
About Novo Holdings A/S
Novo Holdings is a holding and investment company that is responsible for managing the assets and the wealth of the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The purpose of Novo Holdings is to improve people’s health and the sustainability of society and the planet by generating attractive long-term returns on the assets of the Novo Nordisk Foundation.
Wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Novo Holdings is the controlling shareholder of Novo Nordisk A/S and Novonesis A/S and manages an investment portfolio with a long-term return perspective. Novo Holdings is a world-leading life sciences investor. Through its Seed, Venture, Growth, Principal Investments, Planetary Health Investments and Asia teams, Novo Holdings invests directly in life science companies at all stages of development. In addition, it manages a broad portfolio of Capital Investments, including equities, bonds, fixed income, real estate, and infrastructure assets. As of year-end 2023, Novo Holdings had total assets of EUR 149 billion. www.novoholdings.dk
SOURCE Novo Holdings
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