Tellus Therapeutics, a company developing treatments for newborns in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), announced the closing of a Series A financing round of $35 million led by the Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Fund.
The capital will be used to continue preclinical work conducted through the seed investment with the Xontogeny development team and to advance TT-20, the company’s lead candidate for the treatment of white matter brain injury in preterm infants.
Jason Kralic, Tellus co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, said: “This is a big step for Tellus, but only a baby step compared to the impact that these treatments could have on the lives of preterm infants and their families.”
White matter injury (WMI) is the most common brain injury for survivors of preterm birth and is characterised by a reduction in myelin development in the brain, resulting in poor neurodevelopmental outcomes affecting motor and cognitive ability.
Tellus’s lead candidate, TT-20, is derived from a class of molecules found in breast milk, which promote the generation of myelin from postnatal neural stem populations.
