Novo Nordisk leads 100 million investment in Asceneuron

$100 million funding for Swiss biotechnology company Asceneuron. Leading the Series C round is Novo Holding, the investment vehicle of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, which will also be granted a seat on the board of the Lausanne-based company.

The new capital will go to fund research for Asceneuron's principal investigational drug, ASN51, which belongs to a new class of drugs called O-GlcNAcase (OGA) inhibitors. The company and Novo Holdings are banking on ASN51 proving more effective than drugs in the same class being developed by rivals Biogen, Merck & Co and Eli Lilly.

OGA inhibitors prevent the aggregation of tau proteins in the brain to slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease. The new pills under study could be combined with another class of treatments of injections targeting the amyloid beta protein.

Asceneuron will use the funds for a phase 2 trial that will start by the end of the year, Managing Director Barbara Angehrn Pavik explained when presenting the investment. On the Novo Holding front, senior partner Naveed Siddiqi pointed out that for decades drug manufacturers have failed to develop effective treatments for Alzheimer's despite the large number of people suffering from it, thus discouraging investors. But it seems that research has recently reached a turning point, Siddiqi continued, with innovative treatments that remove toxic proteins from the brain and this has stimulated new interest for those willing to fund research.

Only last week, Novo Holdings led a £90million ($116.78m) funding round for UK biotech Myricx Pharma, which is working on new experimental cancer drugs.