Vandria SA has closing of its Series A financing bringing the final amount raised to date to $30.7 million.
Vandria, which is developing small molecule mitophagy inducers against a novel target to rejuvenate cells and treat age-related and chronic diseases, has stated that the funds will go towards progressing its Mitophagy Inducer VNA-318 into clinical development.
Hevolution Foundation and Dolby Family Ventures have now joined ND Capital as additional institutional investors.
Jens Eckstein, Investment Partner Hevolution Foundation stated: “We are excited by the potential of mitophagy as a new therapeutic approach with strong disease-modifying effects for an ageing world population that faces cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
“Vandria’s pipeline offers even wider potential to address other age-related and chronic diseases of the muscle, lung and liver. This investment aligns with our mission to fund innovations that help catalyse the shift from lifespan to healthspan so that everyone can live healthier lives for longer.”
Sourav Kole, Managing Director, Dolby Family Ventures said: “Given the association of mitophagy to neurodegeneration and other disorders and Vandria’s robust preclinical dataset in showing neuroprotective effects and the potential to improve cognition, we are delighted to invest in the company to demonstrate this potential via clinical studies.”
VNA-318 for cognitive impairment
Since the first Series A close in December at $20.6 million, backed by ND Capital and a small syndicate of private investors, Vandria has confirmed it has further developed its platform and portfolio, and advanced its lead program, VNA-318, a patent-protected, brain-penetrant, first-in-class mitophagy inducer.
VNA-318 is on track to enter clinical trials in Europe in the coming weeks.
Vandria’s lead CNS compound VNA-318 is a mitophagy inducer with a unique dual mode of action of immediate improvement of cognitive function paired with long-term disease-modifying effects. According to the company, VNA-318 has been consistently shown to acutely improve memory and learning in preclinical studies.
The company has confirmed that the Series A runway now extends through a dose-finding first-in-man Phase 1 study and the initiation of three parallel Phase 1b / 2a efficacy studies planned for 2025.
The mitophagy platform also has additional potential in CNS indications including cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, and other forms of dementia with a wider portfolio of programmes addressing other age-related and chronic diseases of muscle, lung and liver diseases.
In addition to the equity financing, Vandria has secured CHF4.2M in prestigious non-dilutive funding: two Innosuisse grants to support VNA-318 and an Eurostars grant to support the generation of pre-clinical data for mitophagy drug candidates in Vandria’s muscle program.
Klaus Dugi, CEO of Vandria, said: “I am delighted to welcome Hevolution Foundation and Dolby Family Ventures, alongside ND Capital, to support our transformation into a clinical stage company.
“This Financing will enable us to progress further in clinical development with runway from the series A to complete the Single Ascending Dose (SAD) and Multiple Ascending Dose (MAD) first-in-man Phase 1 study of VNA-318 and to initiate three parallel Phase 1b / 2a efficacy studies in 2025, subject to positive progress in the Phase 1 and regulatory approvals.”
