SOM Biotech Secures €7 Million Series A Funding to Advance SOM3355 for Arterial Hypertension and Huntington’s Disease

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) has learned that SOM Biotech, a clinical-stage drug development company, recently completed a €7 million Series A financing round led by a European family-owned holding company. The funds from this round will be used to conduct clinical trials for SOM3355, a therapeutic agent for arterial hypertension.

On February 2, 2017, SOM Biotech completed a €2 million seed funding round. Following this round, the company’s total fundraising reached €9 million.

SOM3355 is a medication for treating arterial hypertension, currently holding a strong market presence in Asia. Consequently, the risks and investment requirements for developing new therapeutic applications are relatively low. If the current clinical trials prove successful, the drug is expected to enter the Huntington’s disease treatment market within five years, with annual sales projected to exceed €600 million. SOM Biotech is currently conducting Phase 2a clinical trials to evaluate the efficacy of SOM3355 in treating Huntington’s disease and other hyperkinetic movement disorders.

Huntington’s disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by CAG trinucleotide repeat expansion in the huntingtin gene, which encodes an expanded polyglutamine tract in the huntingtin protein and leads to increased “toxic gain of function” of the protein. HD is characterized by chorea, behavioral disturbances, and psychiatric manifestations; progressive dementia and death typically occur 15–20 years after symptom onset.

Raúl Insa, CEO of SOM Biotech, stated, “Since the establishment of SOM Biotech, we have raised over €9 million from private capital, subsidies, and public loans. Currently, the company’s valuation exceeds €200 million. Over the past nine years, we have undertaken more than 40 projects and filed 10 patents. Our challenge in the next five years will be to drive the commercialization of our products.”

SOM Biotech, established in 2009, is a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Barcelona, Spain. The company’s business scope encompasses drug repurposing of existing marketed medicines, clinical drug development, and the commercialization of drugs for orphan indications in the central nervous system. SOM Biotech boasts an extensive product portfolio, with a focus on researching and developing therapies for rare diseases, including Huntington’s disease, adrenoleukodystrophy, adrenomyeloneuropathy, and phenylketonuria.

(Compiled by Yang Shiying)