Muna Therapeutics Awarded $4.9M Grant from The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research Supports Development of Disease Modifying Therapy for Parkinson’s Disease

Copenhagen, Denmark and Boston, US, 11th October 2022 – Muna Therapeutics (Muna), a biopharmaceutical company discovering and developing novel therapeutics for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders, announced today that it has been awarded a $4.9 million grant from The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF). 

The grant will be used to support ongoing preclinical research and development of novel, brain-exposed, small molecule potassium channel type 1.3 (Kv1.3) blockers to abrogate neuroinflammation driven by disease-associated microglia and enhance neuroprotection as a disease-modifying therapy for patients with Parkinson’s disease. 

Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder associated with motor symptoms (slow movement, tremor, rigidity, walking and imbalance) and a wide variety of non-motor complications (cognitive impairment, mental health disorders, sleep disorders, pain and other sensory disturbances). Motor impairments, such as dyskinesias (involuntary movements) and dystonias (painful involuntary muscle contractions) contribute to limitations in speech, mobility and restrictions in many life areas. More than 10 million people worldwide are estimated to be living with Parkinson’s with no current cure. 

Muna is focused on addressing the staggering unmet medical need experienced by Parkinson’s patients around the world with its transformative, therapeutic all-in-human target discovery and validation platform which aims to preserve brain function and enhance resilience to neurodegenerative diseases. 

“We are very pleased to receive this significant funding from The Michael J. Fox Foundation to fund this promising research which has the potential to significantly improve the lives of people with Parkinson’s. Kv1.3 plays an important role in creating and maintaining neuroinflammation in Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. Reducing neuroinflammation by blocking Kv1.3 has tremendous potential to slow or prevent neurodegeneration and disease progression,” said Rita Balice-Gordon, Chief Executive Officer of Muna Therapeutics. 

“The studies will support ongoing medicinal chemistry and structural biology efforts as well as extend understanding of the mechanism of Kv1.3 in microglial activation and the role of Kv1.3 blockade, in vitro in human cells and in vivo in humanized mouse models, to achieve the normalization of disease-associated microglial phenotypes, which will enhance neuroprotection,” said Niels Plath, Chief Scientific Officer of Muna Therapeutics. 

“Fostering a robust and healthy pipeline of therapies to improve the lives of people with Parkinson’s is core to MJFF’s mission. We are proud to support the work of researchers at Muna Therapeutics investigating a potential disease modifying therapy for people with Parkinson’s,” said Brian Fiske, PhD, Co-Chief Scientific Officer, MJFF. 

The grant from MJFF will support work at Muna Therapeutics and in collaboration with Professor Bart De Strooper at VIB/KU Leuven, a scientific co-founder of Muna, for two years.

ENDS

For more information please contact: 

Optimum Strategic Communications
Mary Clark, Manel Mateus, Zoe Bolt
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3882 9621
Email: muna@optimumcomms.com 

Muna Therapeutics
Rita Balice-Gordon, CEO
Email: balicegordon@munatherapeutics.com 

About Muna Therapeutics
Muna Therapeutics is a private biopharmaceutical company founded in 2020 and based in Copenhagen, Denmark and Leuven, Belgium and the United States. Muna discovers and develops therapies that slow or stop devastating neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Frontotemporal Dementia and Multiple Sclerosis. These disorders impact memory, movement, language, behavior and personality resulting in disability and death of millions of patients around the globe. Muna’s groundbreaking science is focused on identifying new medicines to preserve cognition and other brain functions and enhance resilience to neurodegenerative diseases. Our name reflects this focus: Muna means ‘to remember’ in Old Norse. For more information, visit www.munatherapeutics.com

 

Muna Therapeutics appoints Dr. Niels Plath as Chief Scientific Officer

Brings more than 15 years of CNS drug discovery and development experience

Copenhagen, Denmark and Boston, US, 1st November 2021 – Muna Therapeutics (“Muna”), pioneering the development of novel, first-in-class small molecule therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases, today announces the appointment of Dr. Niels Plath as Chief Scientific Officer.

Dr. Plath is a molecular biologist and neuroscientist with more than 15 years of experience in academia and biopharma. He was previously the acting Head of Global Research at Lundbeck, leading drug discovery and development for neurologic and psychiatric diseases.  Prior to this role, Dr. Plath was Vice President for Neuroscience, leading teams that brought several drug candidates into clinical development, including alpha-synuclein and tau targeting antibodies, idalopirdine and Nalmefene.

Rita Balice-Gordon, Chief Executive Officer of Muna Therapeutics, said: “We are delighted to welcome Niels as Muna’s Chief Scientific Officer.  He shares our commitment to discover and develop disease modifying therapeutics to address the staggering unmet need experienced by patients with neurodegenerative disorders around the world.”

Henrijette Richter, Managing Partner at Sofinnova Partners, said: “Niels has broad biopharma R&D experience that will be invaluable as Muna continues to progress its innovative pipeline of potential disease-modifying medicines for neurodegenerative diseases.  We are very pleased to be supporting Muna’s world-class global team.”

Dr. Niels Plath, Chief Scientific Officer of Muna Therapeutics, said: “I’m excited to be joining Muna Therapeutics to further develop its promising, cutting-edge pipeline of neurodegenerative disease therapeutics. I’m looking forward to working with this stellar team to advance promising treatments for patients to significantly improve their quality of life.”

Dr. Plath obtained a PhD in Neuroscience from the Free University of Berlin, Germany, focusing on the role of immediate early genes in neuronal plasticity, learning and memory. Following a postdoctoral fellowship supported by the Human Frontier Science Program, he joined biopharma in 2005 to pursue research and development of treatments for patients with CNS disorders.  Dr. Plath has authored many scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals, is a guest lecturer in Neuroscience at the University of Copenhagen and has given numerous conference talks at meetings around the world.

ENDS

For more information please contact:

Muna Therapeutics
Rita Balice-Gordon, CEO
Email: balicegordon@munatherapeutics.com

Optimum Strategic Communications
Mary Clark, Stella Lempidaki, Zoe Bolt
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3922 1906
Email: muna@optimumcomms.com

About Muna Therapeutics

Muna Therapeutics is a private biopharmaceutical company founded in 2020 and based in Copenhagen, Denmark and Leuven, Belgium. Muna discovers and develops therapies that slow or stop devastating neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s, Frontotemporal Dementia and Parkinson’s.  These disorders impact memory, movement, language, behavior and personality resulting in disability and death of millions of patients around the globe.  We focus our groundbreaking science on identifying new medicines to preserve cognition and other brain functions and enhance resilience to neurodegenerative diseases.  Our name reflects this focus:  Muna means ‘to remember’ in Old Norse.  www.munatherapeutics.com

Muna Therapeutics appoints Dr. Donald Nicholson as Independent Chair of Board of Directors

Industry leader with expertise in building successful biotechnology companies

Copenhagen, Denmark and Boston, US 13th September 2021 – Muna Therapeutics (“Muna”), pioneering the development of first-in-class small molecule therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases, today announced the appointment of Dr. Donald Nicholson, as independent Chair of its Board of Directors.

Dr. Nicholson has deep experience across both biotech and large pharma. He was previously the CEO of Nimbus Therapeutics and was responsible for major transactions with Gilead, Celgene and Genentech. Prior to this, he spent 25 years at Merck, where he held various strategic, leadership and operational roles across diverse therapeutic areas including inflammation, immunology and neuroscience, amongst others. Dr. Nicholson began his career at Merck Frosst in Montreal as a senior research biologist and advanced through various positions of increasing responsibility, including vice president and site head of the Merck Neurosciences Research site in San Diego, vice president of immunology and infectious diseases and vice president and worldwide discovery head for the Bone, Respiratory, Immunology and Endocrine franchise based in New Jersey. He is Chair of the Board of Directors at NodThera, Disc Medicine and Jnana Therapeutics, and Board Director at Kymera Therapeutics (KYMR) and Generation Bio (GBIO).

Rita Balice-Gordon, Chief Executive Officer of Muna Therapeutics, said: “We are delighted to welcome Dr. Nicholson as independent Chair at Muna.  He brings to Muna a wealth of experience in biopharma and biotech, insights into building high-functioning companies and boards, and a commitment to advancing therapies for patients with neurodegenerative diseases.  We look forward to working with him and the Board as we move forward.”

Morten Graugaard Døssing, prior Chair of the Board of Directors of Muna Therapeutics said: “We are very pleased to welcome Dr. Nicholson to our Board of Directors as independent Chair. He brings to Muna his exceptional experience and leadership to support our mission to advance and strengthen our therapeutic pipeline.”

Donald Nicholson, incoming independent Chair of the Board of Directors of Muna Therapeutics said: “I am delighted to be joining Muna as Chair of the Board.  Muna’s innovative approach to neurodegenerative disease therapeutics as well as its stellar leadership and scientific teams inspire great confidence in its future success.”

Dr. Nicholson has co-authored more than 150 publications in peer-reviewed scientific and medical journals and is internationally recognized for his contributions to the field of apoptotic cell death. He received his doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Western Ontario and trained as a Medical Research Council postdoctoral fellow at the University of Munich in Germany. He is the recipient of multiple academic and professional honors.

Muna Therapeutics previously raised US$ 73 million (EUR 60 million) in a Series A financing round co-led by Novo Holdings, Sofinnova Partners, Droia Ventures and LSP Dementia Fund, with Polaris Partners, Polaris Innovation Fund, Sanofi Ventures, V-Bio Ventures and VIB joining the round. The recent raise will help Muna progress its innovative small molecule candidates to the clinic, further develop its innovative drug discovery platform as well as expand its US presence.

ENDS

For more information please contact:

Muna Therapeutics
Rita Balice-Gordon, CEO
Email: balicegordon@munatherapeutics.com

Optimum Strategic Communications
Mary Clark, Stella Lempidaki, Zoe Bolt
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3922 1906
Email: muna@optimumcomms.com

About Muna Therapeutics

Muna Therapeutics is a private biopharmaceutical company founded in 2020 and based in Copenhagen, Denmark and Leuven, Belgium. Muna discovers and develops therapies that slow or stop devastating neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s, Frontotemporal Dementia and Parkinson’s.  These disorders impact memory, movement, language, behavior and personality resulting in disability and death of millions of patients around the globe.  We focus our groundbreaking science on identifying new medicines to preserve cognition and other brain functions and enhance resilience to neurodegenerative diseases.  Our name reflects this focus:  Muna means ‘to remember’ in Old Norse. www.munatherapeutics.com

Muna Therapeutics Launches with US$ 73M Series A to Advance Novel Small Molecule Therapeutics for Neurodegenerative Diseases

  • Financing co-led by Novo Holdings, Sofinnova Partners, Droia Ventures and LSP Dementia Fund, with participation from Polaris Partners, Polaris Innovation Fund, Sanofi Ventures, V-Bio Ventures and VIB
  • Developing small molecules to repair neuronal dysfunction and resolve neuroinflammation
  • Innovative drug discovery platform leveraging insights from novel targets and pathways, resilience to neurodegeneration and all-in-human validation

Copenhagen, Denmark, 9th July 2021 – Muna Therapeutics (“Muna”), pioneering the development of first-in-class small molecule therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases, today announced the successful closing of a US$ 73 million (EUR 60 million) Series A financing round. The investor syndicate was co-led by Novo Holdings, Sofinnova Partners, Droia Ventures and LSP Dementia Fund, with Polaris Partners, Polaris Innovation Fund, Sanofi Ventures, V-Bio Ventures and VIB joining the round.

Muna is the combination of two innovative European start-up companies.  Muna was founded in 2020 by progranulin pathway thought leaders Professor Simon Glerup and his team from Aarhus University, Denmark, with investor Novo Holdings. Muna developed a strategic partnership on additional targets with Axxam SpA, based in Milan, Italy, which became a minority shareholder. Muna is part of Novo Seeds’ company creation efforts, where the Novo team and its entrepreneurs-in-residence help build new biotech companies based on groundbreaking new science.

Muna joined forces with K5 Therapeutics, co-founded in 2020 by Professor Bart De Strooper from VIB-KU Leuven, Belgium, a pioneer in neurodegenerative diseases research, with investors Droia Ventures and VIB. The combined company – Muna Therapeutics – will be based in Copenhagen and Leuven and is led by seasoned pharma executives CEO Rita Balice-Gordon and COO Anders Hinsby, both entrepreneurs-in-residence of Novo Seeds.

Neurodegenerative diseases affect millions of individuals, with increasing global impact as the population ages.  Palliative treatments are scarce, and no curative therapies are currently available.   Muna is focused on addressing the staggering unmet need experienced by patients around the world with neurodegenerative disorders.

Muna’s innovative all-in-human target discovery and validation platform is based on proprietary insights into molecular pathways in different human brain cell types that underlie disease pathology and resilience to neurodegeneration, based on work from the De Strooper and Glerup laboratories.  Muna has built a cutting-edge small molecule drug discovery engine that leverages high-resolution target structural approaches, AI-driven computational chemistry and cell-based screening. The financing will be used to advance Muna’s small molecule programs focused on repairing neuronal dysfunction, resolving neuroinflammation and restoring neuroprotection and resilience to disease to Investigational New Drug (IND) applications.

 “We are in an era of rapid advancement in understanding how to slow or stop the relentless progression of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Frontotemporal Dementia that devastate cognition and quality of life of patients as well as caregivers.” said Rita Balice-Gordon, Chief Executive Officer of Muna Therapeutics.  “Our team is committed to leveraging our collective expertise to deliver impactful disease modifying small molecule therapeutics to patients as rapidly as possible.”

The Board of Directors includes: Morten Graugaard Døssing, Partner at Novo Holdings, current Chairman; Henrijette Richter, Managing Partner at Sofinnova Partners; Cillian King, Investment Manager at LSP; Luc Dochez, Partner at Droia Ventures; Isaac Ciechanover, Partner at Polaris Partners; Laia Crespo, Head of Investments at Sanofi Ventures; and Rita Balice-Gordon, CEO of Muna.

Morten Graugaard Døssing, Chairman of the Board and Partner at Novo Holdings, said: “Novo Seeds is delighted to welcome a global syndicate of first-class investors who strongly believe in Muna’s world-leading science, experienced leadership team, and its potential to develop innovative treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. We are honored to co-lead this round with Sofinnova Partners, Droia Ventures and LSP Dementia Fund – a tremendous joint effort to bring Muna to the next level.”

ENDS

For more information please contact:

Muna Therapeutics
Rita Balice-Gordon, CEO
Email: balicegordon@munatherapeutics.com

Optimum Strategic Communications
Mary Clark, Manel Mateus, Stella Lempidaki
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3922 1906
Email: muna@optimumcomms.com

About Muna Therapeutics

Muna Therapeutics is a private biopharmaceutical company founded in 2020 and based in Copenhagen, Denmark and Leuven, Belgium. Muna discovers and develops therapies that slow or stop devastating neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s, Frontotemporal Dementia and Parkinson’s.  These disorders impact memory, movement, language, behavior and personality resulting in disability and death of millions of patients around the globe.  We focus our groundbreaking science on identifying new medicines to preserve cognition and other brain functions and enhance resilience to neurodegenerative diseases.  Our name reflects this focus:  Muna means ‘to remember’ in Old Norse. www.munatherapeutics.com

Investor Syndicate

About Novo Holdings
Novo Holdings A/S is a private limited liability company wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. It is the holding company of the Novo Group, comprising Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S, and is responsible for managing the Novo Nordisk Foundation’s assets.
Novo Holdings is recognized as a world-leading life science investor with a focus on creating long-term value. As a life sciences investor, Novo Holdings provides seed and venture capital to development-stage companies and takes significant ownership positions in growth and well-established companies. Novo Holdings also manages a broad portfolio of diversified financial assets. www.novoholdings.dk

About Sofinnova Partners
Sofinnova Partners is a leading European venture capital firm in life sciences, specializing in healthcare and sustainability. Based in Paris, London and Milan, the firm brings together a team of professionals from all over the world with strong scientific, medical and business expertise. Sofinnova Partners is a hands-on company builder across the entire value chain of life sciences investments, from seed to later-stage. The firm actively partners with ambitious entrepreneurs as a lead or cornerstone investor to develop transformative innovations that have the potential to positively impact our collective future. Founded in 1972, Sofinnova Partners is a deeply-established venture capital firm in Europe, with 50 years of experience backing over 500 companies and creating market leaders around the globe. Today, Sofinnova Partners has over €2 billion under management. www.sofinnovapartners.com

About Droia Ventures
Droia is a specialist biotech investor with an exclusive focus on therapeutics for oncology and genetic disease. Droia invests globally in newly founded or early-stage platform companies that apply novel science and innovative technologies to bring first-in-class drug candidates to patients. With our team of seasoned scientists, entrepreneurs and investment professionals we build great companies to save patient lives. www.droiaventures.com

About LSP
LSP is one of the largest European investment firms providing financing for life sciences and health care companies. LSP’s management has raised over €2 billion ($2.5 billion) and supported the growth of 300 companies since it started to invest in 1988, including signature deals such as argenx, Crucell and Neuravi. With offices in Amsterdam, Munich and Boston, LSP currently has the possibility to invest through five strategies, each having a distinctive investment scope and a dedicated team: LSP 6 invests in private early- to late-stage drug development and medical technology companies; LSP HEF 2 focuses on private late-stage medical technology companies; the LSP Dementia Fund invests in companies targeting neurodegenerative diseases; LSP Public targets public healthcare companies; and EBAC is the first healthcare SPAC to exclusively focus on European biotech. LSP is an active contributor to the global life sciences industry and the European life science eco-system by assuming for-profit and not-for-profit roles as initiators, founders and board members in various private and public bodies and organizations, for example being founder and board member of the Oncode Institute. www.lspvc.com

About Polaris Partners and Polaris Innovation Fund
Polaris Partners has a 20-plus-year history of partnering with repeat entrepreneurs and world-class innovators who are improving the way we live and work. The multibillion-dollar firm manages specialty and diversified funds in healthcare and technology with investments across all stages. The Polaris Innovation Fund aims to accelerate the commercial and therapeutic potential of early-stage academic research. By partnering with passionate entrepreneurs with transformational science, the Polaris Innovation Fund fosters company creation and growth through an active investment model. Polaris has offices in Boston, San Francisco, and New York.  www.polarispartners.com

About Sanofi Ventures
Sanofi Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of Sanofi. Sanofi Ventures invests in early-stage biotech and digital health companies with innovative ideas and transformative new products and technologies of strategic interest to Sanofi. Among these areas are oncology, immunology, rare diseases, vaccines, potential cures in other core areas of Sanofi’s business footprint, and digital health solutions. www.sanofiventures.com

About V-Bio Ventures
V-Bio Ventures is an independent venture capital firm specialized in building and financing young, innovative life science companies. V-Bio Ventures was established in 2015 and works closely with Belgium-based VIB, one of the world’s premier life science institutes. The fund invests throughout Europe in start-up and early-stage companies with high growth potential focusing on technologies that provide transformational improvements in the biopharmaceutical, pharmaceutical, diagnostics and agricultural sectors. www.v-bio.ventures

About VIB
VIB is an entrepreneurial research institute in life sciences located in Flanders, Belgium. VIB’s basic research leads to new and innovative insights into normal and pathological life processes. It unites the expertise of all its collaborators and research groups in a single institute, firmly based on its close partnership with 5 Flemish universities (Ghent University, KU Leuven, University of Antwerp, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Hasselt University). We are supported by a solid funding program from the Flemish government. VIB has an excellent track record on translating basic scientific results into pharmaceutical, agricultural and industrial applications. Since its foundation in 1996, VIB has created 29 start-up companies, now employing over 900 people. www.vib.be