OrganoTherapeutics, an innovative biotech working on novel therapeutics against Parkinson’s, just announced that KHAN-I, a well-known fund with connections across European institutions, obtained shares in the company.
Founded in 2019, the spin-off from the University of Luxembourg uses patient-specific brain organoid models to develop therapeutics against Parkinson’s disease. While the research is composed of multiple projects, they are taking promising steps in the right direction.
“We now have a very interesting group of small molecule compounds that show a nice degree of activity. We aim at further developing these into candidates that can go into clinical testing for Parkinson’s disease,” explains OrganoTherapeutics’ CEO Jens Schwamborn.
While OrganoTherapeutics has not disclosed the amount of funds received from KHAN-I, their interest is a promising sign for the spin-off. Indeed, KHAN-I, a fund managed by Khanu Management GmbH, with €70m under management has an experienced board in drug development and pharma licensing and is supported by several European institutions, such as the European Investment Fund (EIF) and the European Fund for Strategic Investments.
“I particularly appreciate the deep knowledge and expertise of the KHAN-I team in the drug discovery sector. Having KHAN-I on board will certainly accelerate our efforts to further develop OrganoTherapeutics and develop novel therapeutics against Parkinson’s disease,” says Jens.
The investment will mostly go towards further development of the company’s drug candidates. The next steps for the spin-off include moving to the House of Biohealth by October before becoming fully operational in January 2024.
Although the spin-off’s service and partnering model already make it profitable without further investments, they still welcome any investments “to potentially accelerate their activities.”
