Myosana Therapeutics has completed a seed funding round totalling over $5 million led by investor John Ballantyne.
The capital will go towards developing Myosana’s gene therapy platform for neuromuscular and cardiac disease, with the goal of identifying the first development candidate for Duchenne muscular dystrophy by 2025.
“Built on decades of expertise in neuromuscular diseases, Myosana’s muscle-specific non-viral gene therapy platform is poised to change the way patients are treated for neuromuscular and cardiac diseases,” said Ballantyne, Cofounder and former longtime CSO of Biologics CDMO-Aldevron, and a Founder of therapeutic delivery system developer Agathos.
“Myosana’s progress building on the platform’s promising in vivo data is an essential next step. I’m excited to partner with the company as it pushes ahead toward a therapy that will reach patients and improve their lives.”
New investments from the Muscular Dystrophy Association and Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD) rounded out the seed round, building on capital from original Myosana investor CureDuchenne Ventures and early investor PPMD a year later.
This comes just as Myosana has appointed its new CEO, Dr Matthew Lumley, a physician scientist who has spent nearly two decades in academic medicine and drug development. Lumley is also the father of a son with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
“Dr Ballantyne’s investment, alongside our nonprofit partners, will go directly to platform optimisation and the identification of a development candidate for Duchenne muscular dystrophy in the next 18-24 months,” said Lumley. “As proof of principle for the platform, success in treating Duchenne would open up opportunities for Myosana to target a large range of neuromuscular and cardiac diseases.”
