Aspen Neuroscience Secures $6.5M Seed Funding to Develop Restorative Cell Therapy for Parkinson’s Disease

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) learned from foreign media that on December 12, 2019, biotechnology company Aspen Neuroscience (Aspen) completed a $6.5 million seed financing round. The round was led by Domain Associates and Axon Ventures, with participation from Alexandria Venture Investments, Arch Venture Partners, OrbiMed, and Section 32.

Aspen Neuroscience is a privately held, development-stage biotechnology company based in San Diego, California. By integrating innovative genomics approaches with stem cell biology and leveraging proprietary machine learning tools and artificial intelligence to ensure quality control during manufacturing, the company provides restorative cell therapies for patients with Parkinson’s disease.

Aspen focuses on human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), a type of cultured cell that can be differentiated into any cell type in the human body. The company’s research centers on iPSC technology, which involves performing skin biopsies on Parkinson’s disease patients and using genetic engineering techniques to reprogram the skin tissue into pluripotent stem cells. Aspen differentiates these pluripotent stem cells into dopamine-releasing neurons and transplants them back into patients, thereby restoring the neuronal populations lost due to Parkinson’s disease.

The company’s lead product candidate, ANPD001, is currently under Investigational New Drug (IND) development for the treatment of sporadic Parkinson’s disease. Aspen is also developing ANPD002, a gene-edited autologous neuron therapy, which is currently in the research stage and primarily intended for the treatment of familial Parkinson’s disease, initially targeting the most common genetic variants in the glucocerebrosidase (GBA) gene.

Dr. Federoff stated, “Aspen is developing a restorative autologous neuron therapy for patients with Parkinson’s disease. We are fortunate to have a highly qualified medical leadership team to bring our vision to fruition. Our cell replacement therapy originated in the laboratory of Dr. Jeanne Loring and later received support from the Stem Cell Summit and its president, Jenifer Raub.”

Dr. Kim P. Kamdar, Partner at Domain Associates, stated, “Aspen’s financial strength and experienced leadership team have laid a solid foundation for its future success. Domain is proud to invest in companies that translate scientific research into innovative drugs and therapies capable of transforming lives. We are confident that Aspen belongs to this category, as it is the only company leveraging patients’ own cells for cell replacement therapy in Parkinson’s disease.”

Domain was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, with a second office in San Diego, California. The firm primarily invests in pharmaceuticals, specialty pharmaceuticals, and medical devices, while also focusing on biomaterials, bio-instruments, and diagnostics. Domain manages $2 billion in assets and has participated in the establishment and development of more than 200 life sciences companies.

Arch, founded in 1986 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, is an innovation-focused company specializing in the life sciences sector. Arch has raised ten venture capital funds totaling over $3 billion and has provided early-stage venture investment to more than 150 companies.

OrbiMed, a private equity firm based in New York, USA, was founded in 1989 and manages approximately $5 billion in assets. The company is dedicated to investing in various healthcare companies and manages the Caduceus Private Investments series of venture capital funds as well as a range of public equity investment funds.

(Compiled by Jiang Ying)