Cyclana Bio has closed its £5m pre-seed funding spherical to develop its platform and useful illness fashions which can be devoted to revolutionising ladies’s well being by means of tissue degree therapeutics – with endometriosis therapy discovery first in line.
Endometriosis is a continual and debilitating lifelong situation that impacts one in ten ladies worldwide. Regardless of its prevalence, the illness physiology of endometriosis stays poorly understood and therapy choices stay restricted.
Cyclana Bio is addressing a necessity to raised serve hundreds of thousands of girls by creating physiologically related fashions and utilising AI-driven multi-scale knowledge integration to allow the invention of druggable targets to enhance therapy outcomes.
“Our mission at Cyclana isn’t just to shut the gender well being hole, however propel ladies to the forefront of drug discovery,” stated Léa Wenger, chief government and co-founder of Cyclana Bio. “We’re redefining how therapies are developed, beginning with the fundamental science by zooming out and learning illness on the degree the place it really emerges: the tissue itself.
“By elevating enterprise capital as our first supply of financing, we’re constructing a mannequin with the patron – the affected person – on the centre. We now haven’t solely the privilege, but in addition the duty to generate one of the best pipeline to carry new remedies to the clinic.”
Cyclana Bio has demonstrated the position of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in endometriosis, the place disregulation of the ECM causes irritation and lack of tissue operate. Till now, drug growth methods to deal with endometriosis have centered on intracellular mechanisms, failing to focus on the interplay between cells and the ECM, and have resulted in sub-optimal therapy efficacy.
The startup is targeted on constructing complete tissue fashions of illness, harnessing menstrual fluid and lab-based modelling. It’s hoped this strategy will uncover early biomarkers of illness and establish novel targets for drug growth.
“Our aim isn’t just to develop new remedies, however to alter the framework of biomedical discovery itself,” stated Kevin Chalut, CSO and cofounder at Cyclana Bio.
“By beginning with ladies’s well being, we’re addressing one of many best unmet wants in medication. In doing so, we is not going to solely treatment a debilitating illness many ladies endure from, we will even set the stage for a broader transformation in how we perceive and deal with continual illness.”
The pre-seed spherical was co-led by NfX and Eka VC and included participation from Cocoa VC, Wilbe and angel buyers.
