Date: 2015-04-09
Type of information: Financing round
Company: Minoryx Therapeutics (Spain)
Investors: la Caixa (Spain) Sanfilippo Foundation Switzerland (Switzerland) Healthequity (Spain)
Amount: €2.4 million
Funding type: financing round
Planned used: Minoryx, founded in 2011, is dedicated to treating congenital metabolic disorders, a group of rare or orphan diseases for which there are no treatments in the majority of cases. The company is dedicated to discovering drugs based on small molecules that recover the functionality of enzymes made ineffective by genetic mutations through SEE-Tx, which combines its proprietary computational platform and biological screening. This type of drugs known as “non-competitive pharmacological chaperones,” could be an alternative for genetic diseases, such as GM1 gangliosidosis and Morquio syndrome B. On the other hand, in projects such as the one dedicated to adrenoleukodystrophy, Minoryx pursues an approach centred on drugs that are capable of counteracting cellular dysfunction on a phenotype level. Part of the resources from the round will be dedicated to starting regulatory studies on the adrenoleukodystrophy drug candidate based on the the development plan drafted in agreement with the Scientific Advice provided by the European Medicines Agency.
Others: * On April 9, 2015, Minoryx Therapeutics announced that Health Equity has entered into its capital with 0.75M€. With these funds and those provided by Caixa Capital Risc and Sanfilippo Fondation, Minoryx secured 2.4M€ for its programs. Healthequity is a VC fund focused on investing in early-stage companies in the Healthcare sector. The fund is promoted by the Medical Association of Barcelona and the financial group Riva y Garcia and invests mainly in Catalonia and Spain. Its current portfolio includes n-Life Therapeutics, Sanifit and Minoryx Therapeutics. Healthequity was registered with the CNMV and founded in 2012. * On January 23, 2015, Minoryx Therapeutics has raised € 1.6 million in a round led by ”la Caixa”. The investment has been made through the Caixa Innvierte BioMed II fund, an investment vehicle managed by Caixa Capital Risc, the venture capital arm of ”la Caixa”, which has participation from the Centre for Industrial Technology Development (Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial, CDTI), under the Programa Innvierte framework, and with a minority participation by the Catalan Institute of Finance (Institut Català de Finances, ICF). The operation is joined by the Sanfilippo Foundation Switzerland. Since it was founded, Minoryx has been able to raise over four million Euros, including the present round of funding. Prior to this operation, Minoryx has received support from the public programs Innpacto, Retos and Torres Quevedo through the Ministry of Economics and Competitiveness, convertible loans from ENISA and help from Nuclis and Eurotransbio through ACC1Ó.
Therapeutic area: Rare diseases
