October 2020 – Eternygen Announces the First Closing of its Series A2 Funding Round
Eternygen GmbH Press release
Berlin, October 26, 2020
Eternygen Announces the First Closing of its Series A2 Funding Round
Berlin, Germany, October 26, 2020 – Eternygen announces today the first closing of its Series A2 funding round led by new anchor investor Evotec SE and additional funding from venture capital firms Epidarex Capital, IBB Ventures and a number of family offices. The new investment amounting to €5M will be used to drive Eternygen’s development of novel treatments for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) to the next milestone, i.e. the selection of a preclinical development candidate, the initiation of IND enabling studies as well as growing clinical capabilities within the team.
NASH is a life-threatening metabolic disease which urgently needs new effective treatment options and represents a large and rapidly growing market opportunity. Eternygen will use the proceeds of this financing to continue its preclinical program tackling NASH with a unique and previously unexplored mode of action by focusing on citrate metabolism, a key regulator for multiple processes driving NASH pathogenesis. Eternygen targets NaCT/SLC13A5 (also referred to as “INDY” or “I’m not dead yet) – a sodium coupled citrate transporter in the liver – which has a broad effect on NASH-relevant pathways like glucose metabolism, lipogenesis as well as inflammation, fibrosis and cardiovascular risk factors. The current funding round of about EUR 5m will remain open for additional investment to bring the program to clinical POC.
“NASH is expected to become one of the largest economic and public health burdens in developed countries over the next 10 years. Effective treatments are urgently needed to address this serious disease which can ultimately lead to liver cirrhosis,” Marco Janezic, Founder and CEO Eternygen, GmbH. “The ongoing support by our investors and the promising data generated to date give us great optimism to continue our work for patients and caregivers. In particular the commitment of Evotec as our main development partner, knowing the program in depth and now being the lead investor is a great validation of our recent work and gives us confidence for the next development stages of our unique approach,” he concluded.
“At Evotec we are committed to developing disease modifying treatments for metabolic diseases,” Dr. Cord Dohrmann, CSO Evotec said. “Eternygen’s approach to NASH fits very well as it is focused on the inhibition of INDY, a target with accumulating evidence that is plays an important metabolic role in the development of NASH and related metabolic disorders. Although INDY is not easily tractable via small molecules Eternygen has managed to identify a number of chemical leads which clearly have the potential to be turned into drugs. We are very much encouraged by Eternygen’s progress and believe that they will deliver sorely needed drugs to NASH patients who are lacking effective treatment options.”
ABOUT EPIDAREX CAPITAL
Epidarex Capital is a transatlantic venture capital firm with a track record of building exceptional life science companies in emerging hubs in the US and UK. Epidarex’s experienced team of early stage investors partner with entrepreneurs and leading research institutions to transform world-class science into highly innovative products addressing major unmet needs in the global healthcare market. For more information visit: https://epidarex.com
ABOUT EVOTEC SE
Evotec is a drug discovery alliance and development partnership company focused on rapidly progressing innovative product approaches with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academics, patient advocacy groups and venture capitalists. We operate worldwide and our more than 3,400 employees provide the highest quality stand-alone and integrated drug discovery and development solutions. We cover all activities from target-to-clinic to meet the industry’s need for innovation and efficiency in drug discovery and development (EVT Execute). The Company has established a unique position by assembling top-class scientific experts and integrating state-of-the-art technologies as well as substantial experience and expertise in key therapeutic areas including neuronal diseases, diabetes and complications of diabetes, pain and inflammation, oncology, infectious diseases, respiratory diseases, fibrosis, rare diseases and women’s health. On this basis, Evotec has built a broad and deep pipeline of approx. 100 co-owned product opportunities at clinical, pre-clinical and discovery stages (EVT Innovate). Evotec has established multiple long-term alliances with partners including Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, CHDI, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Sanofi, Takeda, UCB and others. For additional information please go to www.evotec.com and follow us on Twitter @Evotec.
ABOUT IBB VENTURES
IBB Ventures (www.ibbventures.de) has been providing venture capital to innovative Berlin-based companies since 1997 and has established itself as the market leader in early stage financing. The funds are primarily used for development and market launch of innovative products or services as well as for business concepts from creative industries. Two funds with a total volume of EUR 100 million are currently in the investment phase. Both VC funds are financed by the Investitionsbank Berlin (IBB) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), managed by the State of Berlin. IBB Ventures has already invested in more than 210 creative and technology companies in Berlin; in syndicates with partners, the start-ups received approx. EUR 1.52 billion, of which IBB Ventures has invested EUR 217 million as lead, co-lead or co-investor.
ABOUT ETERNYGEN GMBH
Eternygen is a Berlin-based Biotech Company founded in June 2012 to focus on the research, development and marketing of NaCT inhibitors for the treatment of dietary-related metabolic diseases. The founding team consists of renowned scientists from leading German universities and academic institutes as well as serial entrepreneurs from the venture and industry community. Eternygen is a virtual company supported by a network of senior industry experts and contract research organizations. Eternygen shareholders include Epidarex Capital, Evotec SE, VC Fonds Technologie, Berlin, Germany managed by IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, and two renowned family offices. For additional information please go to www.eternygen.com
CONTACT INFORMATION
Eternygen:
Marco Janezic, CEO. Ph. +49 30 1207 6983 – 0; email: m.janezic@eternygen.com
Dr. Grit Zahn, Head of Research. Ph. +49 30 1207 6983 – 1; email: g.zahn@eternygen.com
MC Services:
Catherine Featherston/Raimund Gabriel; Ph.. +49 89 210 228 – 80; eternygen@mc-services.eu
