Melbourne preclinical biotechnology company Mirugen Pty Ltd has secured $4.5 million in seed funding for its work (re)programming cells to unlock innate cellular repair mechanisms.
The announcement also comes as the firm revealed experienced biotech entrepreneur Ms Charlotte Casebourne Stock as its executive chair and acting CEO.
To date, the gene therapy start-up founded at the Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA) has raised $7.1 million, with this latest seed round building on significant non-dilutive funding awards from CUREator, bringing together a syndicate of investors comprising Brandon Capital, Tin Alley Ventures, and the University of Melbourne Genesis Pre-Seed Fund.
The proceeds from this financing round support the development of Mirugen’s core technology, and its lead retinitis pigmentosa program through translational development.
Stock, executive partner at Yarvie, has an executive track record bringing biologics from concept to clinic, creating companies integrating diverse stakeholders, and with international reach.
Most recently she led UK-based Theolytics from inception into the clinic, raising more than $45 million.
“Mirugen has the potential to become the pioneer for in vivo cell (re)programming,” she said.
“I am excited to join forces with the co-founders and investors for this next chapter: delivering proof-of-concept for our core technology; progressing towards IND (investigational new drug)-enabling studies; and building out a world-class leadership team as the foundations for Mirugen to become a resilient leader in this field.
Co-founded by Associate Professor Raymond Wong, and Professor Keith Martin, Mirugen builds on the Nobel Prize winning science behind cellular reprogramming.
Mirugen’s discovery platform leverages sequencing data, bioinformatics, and high-throughput screening to identify the optimal set of cellular instructions (‘transcription factors’) to ask one cell type to become another.
A spin-out from the CERA, the organisation leverages the co-founders’ expertise in the fundamental biology of retinal repair for their lead retinitis pigmentosa programme.
Prof Martin, co-founder and medical director, said for the 1.5 million people worldwide affected by retinitis pigmentosa, severe depletion of the light-sensing cells in the eye – the photoreceptors – is the cause of progressive visual loss.
“With Mirugen’s lead candidate, we target nascent stem cells in the eye, called Muller glial cells, to replace and regenerate the lost photoreceptors,” he said.
“If successful, we anticipate this approach will also translate to some of the leading causes of blindness worldwide, including age-related macular degeneration and Stargardt’s disease.”
Dr Winnie Gao, from the University of Melbourne Genesis Pre-Seed Fund, stated: “This co-investment in Mirugen reflects our belief that world-class research moves faster through collaboration. By leveraging both capital and capability, we hope to facilitate the necessary support for Mirugen to scale and deliver its therapies to patients sooner.”
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