Remedium Bio, Inc., a biotech company developing novel gene therapies, has closed more than $2.3 million in its expanded seed round financing.
Funding from the raise is being used to study Remedium’s lead product, a single-injection gene therapy potentially capable of reversing cartilage loss. The study is being undertaken in a collaboration with Tufts University School of Medicine scientists researching rheumatic disorders.
The financing was led by Sherwood Ventures and included participation from, LongevityTech.Fund, Primo Medical Group, Angel Star Ventures, Apis Health Angels, MicroVentures, and Guindy Alumni Angels.
Remedium’s lead candidate is the only single injection gene therapy based on the clinically proven anabolic mechanism of FGF18, which has demonstrated the ability to reverse cartilage loss in a placebo controlled, multi-center, randomized clinical trial.
Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis is the largest unmet need in rheumatology, presenting a market of $37 billion with no currently approved therapies capable of slowing or reversing disease progression.
Remedium said its novel solution offers the potential to arrest disease progression after a single injection and promote restoration of a more natural, youthful phenotype of articular cartilage.
“Our technology has the potential to reverse years of age-related cartilage loss, for a disease that currently has no approved therapeutic treatments capable of slowing or reversing progression” said Frank Luppino, president and CEO of Remedium Bio.
“We are extremely excited about the progress made to date, and believe that our gene-augmentation technology can be translated to a number of other age-related pathologies with no currently available disease-modifying options.”
Remedium’s pipeline includes therapeutic indications in osteoarthritis, diabetes, stroke, and other large unmet clinical needs.
ASBMR presentation
The company also announced the acceptance of an abstract entitled “Characterization of a Novel FGF18 Gene Therapy for the Treatment of Osteoarthritis” for the 2022 Annual American Society of Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) meeting.
This year’s event will take place in Austin, Tex, from September 9 to 12. The work presented will highlight Remedium’s progress in the development of a novel gene therapy for the treatment of osteoarthritis.
“We are honored to have been accepted to present our abstract reviewing the progress made to date in the development of our FGF18 gene therapy treatment for Osteoarthritis at the 2022 ASBMR,” Luppino said.
“We have been additionally invited to present a plenary poster on the first day of the event and are looking forward to sharing our findings at this prestigious forum.”
Pitch Challenge invite
The company has also been selected as one of the finalists to present at the Life Science Nation’s RESI Boston Innovator’s Pitch Challenge event. The Redefining Early Stage Investments (RESI) Boston conference will take place September 21 to 22 and will include participation from more than 450 investors and strategic partners, featuring panel discussions, workshops, and culminating in the Pitch Challenge sessions.
“We are very excited to have been selected amongst the finalists for this year’s first in-person RESI event in Boston,” Luppino said.
“Having made significant progress on our lead candidate treatment for osteoarthritis and expanded the R&D pipeline, we now look forward to engaging potential partners and investors following the Pitch Challenge sessions.”