BaseLaunch startup Polyneuron raises new financing

Polyneuron Pharmaceuticals has announced the closing of a 3.1 million Swiss franc financing round. The financing was led by EVA Basel, which specializes in supporting startups, and included the Zürcher Kantonalbank and private investors.

The Basel-based pharmaceutical company will use the proceeds to advance its lead candidate, PN-1007, to clinical development for the treatment of the autoimmune disease anti-MAG neuropathy. It will also advance its Antibody-Catch technology platform, which enables the development of drugs that eliminate autoimmune-disease causing autoantibodies, while leaving the immune system intact.

Since the initial seed financing tranche, the company has met several key milestones, said CEO Ruben Herrendorff. For instance, it delivered a preclinical proof of principle with PN-1007, concluded a key licensing agreement with the University of Basel, and expanded its team – including the appointments of Gerhard Müller as Chairman and Michael Wacker as Chief Business Officer. Wacker is the co-founder, Chief Scientific Officer and member of the board of directors of the Schlieren-based company GlycoVaxyn, which was acquired by the UK’s GlaxoSmithKline in 2015.

Polyneuron Pharmaceuticals was founded in 2014 as a spin-off of the University of Basel and is headquartered in the startup centre Basel Inkubator.

Polyneuron Pharmaceuticals is part of the startups that were selected for Phase II of the BaseLaunch accelerator program.