Cinclus Pharma, a clinical-stage biopharma company developing treatments for acid-related diseases, has entered a major licensing and commercialization agreement with European pharmaceutical leader Zentiva. The deal, valued at up to €220 million, grants Zentiva exclusive rights to manufacture and market Cinclus’s lead asset, linaprazan glurate, across the EEA, UK, and Switzerland.

Linaprazan glurate is a next-generation treatment for severe erosive GERD, targeting a European and US market of approximately 10 million patients.

This strategic partnership strengthens Cinclus Pharma’s commercialization pathway in Europe while retaining full rights to the US market, positioning the company for significant global value creation.

Our portfolio company, Purpose Pharma, has announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has adopted a positive opinion for Attrogy® (diflunisal). Attrogy® is indicated for the treatment of hereditary transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis (hATTR amyloidosis) in adult patients with stage 1 or stage 2 polyneuropathy.

If approved by the European Commission (EC), Attrogy® will become the only oral therapy authorized for treating both stage 1 and stage 2 ATTR polyneuropathy.
This represents a major advancement for hATTR patients, offering a convenient and accessible oral treatment option that addresses a significant unmet need. Attrogy® could enable earlier and more sustained management of disease progression, helping patients maintain their quality of life longer.

About Purpose Pharma
Purpose Pharma is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative treatments for rare diseases with high unmet medical needs

Purpose Pharma is a patient-centric European based pharmaceutical company focusing on the development and commercialization of novel rare disease and specialty care products in areas of high unmet medical need.

Hoba Therapeutics, a Novo Holdings founded Danish biotech company dedicated to developing novel therapeutic proteins for patients living with chronic neuropathic pain and hearing loss, today announced that it has raised EUR 23 million (USD 25 million) in a Series A financing first close.

Venture forces invest millions in new type of treatment for particularly aggressive form of cancer

A syndicate consisting of the Lundbeck Foundation BioCapital, EIR Ventures, EIFO and UCPH Ventures has just made an investment in the Danish biotech company Dania Therapeutics (Dania Tx). The company is based on research from renowned professor Kristian Helin and dr. Karl Agger originating from Helin’s former research group at the University of Copenhagen. The ambition is to develop a treatment for acute myeloid leukaemia, which also holds potential for treatment of other types of cancer.

On July 10, 2020, Eir Ventures I was launched with the announcement of the first close of our fund. Since the launch, Eir Ventures have completed investments in 17 pioneering life science companies; 5 companies have taken their development programs into clinical testing, and two companies have been listed on NASDAQ (US). We continue to develop the portfolio and look forward to the coming years in the fund. The Eir Ventures team sends the best wishes for the summer to all our colleagues and friends in the Nordic and International Life Science community.

Eir Ventures welcomes Lovisa Backemar as Principal in the Eir Ventures Team. Lovisa is a Medical Doctor and holds a PhD in clinical epidemiology from the Karolinska Institute. Prior to joining Eir Ventures, Lovisa served as Head of Business Development at the Swedish healthcare provider Capio, where she played a key role in setting the strategic direction and leading growth projects. Lovisa also gained valuable experience as a management consultant at Boston Consulting Group, working on diverse projects in different industries, mainly MedTech and Pharma. Lovisa will be based in Stockholm.

Eir Ventures are delighted to announce our most recent investment in RAPP.

The company was founded in Sweden based on Professor Ulrica Nilsson’s research, offering an evidence-based, interactive, and patient-centric digital platform that addresses several needs in the field of Postoperative Care and Recovery. Rapp aims to implement value-based care by focusing on improving quality of care and overall patient satisfaction after “day surgery” (outpatient surgery) through its well-established monitoring system, while in the meantime enabling the healthcare system to improve an efficient workflow and cut healthcare costs accordingly. Considering trends of increasing number of surgical procedures carried out on a same-day basis in recent years, medical value generated with this digital platform will benefit healthcare systems, patients as well as research community to further improve the processes.

Eir Ventures are delighted to announce our most recent investment in GutCRINE. The company is a pioneering spin out from Copenhagen University developing a new first in class therapy targeting metabolic and age-related diseases like obesity, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis and Parkinson’s disease.

Scenic Biotech is a pioneer in the discovery of genetic modifiers to enable the development of disease modifying therapeutics for rare genetic disorders

Henlez mission is to transform the management of skin conditions by using enzymes.

Henlez’s pre-clinical lead development program, HEN-001, is an enzyme-based, topical application directed towards hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) – a highly stigmatizing and chronic inflammatory condition characterized by severe pain, malodorous drainage and permanent scarring of the armpits and groin. The company was founded 2019 by former Novozymes A/S scientist and current CEO Jeppe Mouritsen.

Pretzel is developing treatments to address the genetic roots of mitochondrial dysfunction.

Pretzel was founded by some of the world’s foremost academics in mitochondrial biology, and we benefit from the leadership of accomplished experts in drug discovery, drug development, and company formation. The name is inspired by the focal point of our science, the mitochondrion, whose highly folded inner membrane is one of many fascinating features that make it unlike any other organelle in the body.

Hoba Therapeutics is Danish biotech developing restorative treatments for pain, hearing loss, and sensory neuron disorders. HB-086 is under development for the treatment of pain in multiple chronic neuropathic pain indications. HB-086 is a non-opioid compound with a unique MoA targeting the peripheral nervous system to reverse neuropathic pain and thus targeting the underlying cause of the disease. HB-097 is a restorative treatment for sensorineural hearing loss. Preclinical data of HB-097 show both a preventive effect of hearing loss by protecting nerve cells and a regenerative effect by reversal of already induced damage.

Attgeno develops novel nitric oxide donators which are selective for the pulmonary circulation, making them safe and without systemic side-effects.Attgeno has developed Supernitro, a first in class therapy for the specific delivery of Nitric Oxide (NO) in the lung for prevention and treatment of pulmonary hypertension. By the donation of NO in the lungs, Supernitro replaces the decrease in NO production that is a well-known consequence of different diseases leading to increased risk for pulmonary hypertension, a condition associated with severe morbidity and mortality.

Eir ventures has established itself as a well-respected professional investor in the Nordic life science ecosystem and will continue to build the organization and network to key stakeholders in the region. In accordance with this aim, Eir Ventures is expanding the team with three new partners. The three new Partners will join the Founding Partners Magnus Persson MD PhD, Stephan Christgau PhD and Amanda Hayward PhD. Concomitant with this expansion of the investment team, Mr Andreas Segerros will be leaving the firm to pursue an alternate professional role.

Cinclus Pharma is a Swedish biopharmaceutical company that is developing novel small molecules for the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). The lead candidate, linaprazan glurate, belongs to a novel class of drugs, so called Potassium-Competitive Acid Blockers (P-CABs), that result in faster regulation of intragastric pH by a different mechanism of action compared to PPIs. The drug is in Phase 2 development in Europe and the US and has the potential to heal esophageal injuries and alleviate GERD symptoms more effectively than current pharmaceutical therapies including PPIs.

Eir Ventures today announced the completion of an investment in Strike Pharma, a Swedish biotechnology company that is developing personalized precision medicines within the immune-oncology space. The technology offers the potential to not only increase therapeutic efficacy, but also to reduce dosage levels thereby minimizing the risk of side effects.

University of Copenhagen and Eir Ventures has agreed a unique co-investment agreement where the University allocates DKK 15 million to co-investments with Eir Ventures.

Pok Yeung Lee and Jorge Pérez Hermilla, two MMSc students from the Bioentrepreneurship program anchored at Karolinska Institutet and Royal Institute of Technology, will join the Eir Ventures Stockholm team in January 2022.

Pok Yeung has previous investment analyst and business consultant experience and has most recently been working with life science investments at Hadean Ventures in Stockholm. He has a BSc in Biotechnology and Business from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Jorge has previous strategy consulting experience and has most recently been working with life science equity investments at Öhman Fonder. He has a MD from University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

Eir Ventures welcomes Tobias Horneman-Thielcke as senior Principal in the Eir Ventures Team. Tobias is a physician and holds a BA in Law. Tobias started his career working as a physician in the clinic and later transferred to the pharmaceutical industry, where he spent several years in various regional and global leadership positions for Sanofi Genzyme and Y-mAbs. Tobias is experienced within rare diseases, immunology and oncology, developing and managing strategy, product launches and drug positioning with R&D. Tobias is also the founder of a medtech startup company, Connect2Treat.com, that digitalises HCP and pharma interactions. The position is in Copenhagen

Eir Ventures Partners AB (“Eir Ventures” or “the Fund”), a Nordic Life Science Venture Capital manager, today announced the final close of its fund Eir Ventures I AB of EUR 122.3 million.

Eir Ventures today announced the completion of an investment in ArgusEye, a biotechnology company developing sensor solutions for real-time detection of biological systems and processes.

Eir Ventures welcomes Gökçe Günaydın as Investment Associate. Gökçe is joining from the pharmaceutical industry where she held global positions in Medical Affairs. She worked at the Karolinska Institute for 10 years, where she obtained her PhD. In 2021, she won the prestigious SSE MBA Carl Silfvén Scholarship allowing her to pursue her Executive MBA at Stockholm School of Economics. She is also the recipient of prestigious awards in the field of medical innovation.

The position is in Stockholm.

“It is delightful that Synklino can extend its efforts to help transplant patients. We are also glad we at Eir Ventures have enabled the progress from academic project to a financeable promising company by our participation as seed investors” says Dr Magnus Persson, Founding Partner at Eir Ventures and Director of the Board at Synklino.

Congratulations to our portfolio company IO Biotech on the successful IPO on NASDAQ. Great achievement for this pioneering company, and a milestone in the development of new pioneering treatments for Cancer patients based on the company’s T-win technology.

BOSTON, Nov. 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Galecto, Inc. (NASDAQ: GLTO), a publicly listed biotechnology company focused on the development of novel treatments for fibrosis and cancer, today announced that it has entered into a clinical trial supply agreement with Roche to explore the combination of GB1211, Galecto’s oral galectin-3 inhibitor, with Roche’s PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor atezolizumab (Tecentriq®) in Galecto’s planned Phase 2a trial in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Magnus Persson and Alexander Mata join the board of directors, with Magnus Persson as chairman.

one-carbon Therapeutics is a Swedish company specialized in targeting proteins involved in one-carbon metabolism and DNA damage and repair (DDR) as a way of inducing cancer cell death. The company is developing first-in-class inhibitors targeting MTHFD2, an oncofetal protein expressed during embryogenesis, silenced in adult cells, and then re-expressed in cancer. The lead program targets a range of cancer indications including leukemias and solid tumors with significant unmet medical needs and market potential.