{"id":31793,"date":"2017-09-19T16:59:50","date_gmt":"2017-09-19T20:59:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sciencebusiness.technewslit.com\/?p=31793"},"modified":"2017-09-20T12:16:11","modified_gmt":"2017-09-20T16:16:11","slug":"neuro-disease-start-up-gains-30m-in-early-funds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/technewslit.com\/sciencebusiness\/?p=31793","title":{"rendered":"Neuro Disease Start-Up Gains $30M in Early Funds"},"content":{"rendered":"
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19 September 2017. A start-up enterprise developing treatments for several neurological diseases that the company says are triggered by a common destructive protein, is raising $30 million its first venture financing round. The one year-old company, Disarm Therapeutics<\/a> in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is founded by two researchers at Washington University in St. Louis that made the key scientific discoveries leading to these proposed treatments.<\/p>\n

Disarm Therapeutics is targeting neurological conditions that result from axon degeneration<\/a>, a condition found in a number of disorders, affecting axons<\/a> — the long extended fibers in neurons, or nerve cells — that carry electrical signals from the body of the cell. The degeneration of axon fibers is associated with several neurological disorders<\/a>, including multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS, glaucoma, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease, and peripheral nerve pain from diabetes or chemotherapy.<\/p>\n

The company’s founders,\u00a0geneticist Jeffrey Milbrandt<\/a> and developmental biologist Aaron DiAntonio<\/a>, study axon degeneration at Washington University and identified a common feature to the condition: a protein known as SARM1<\/a>, short for Sterile Alpha And TIR Motif Containing 1. The researchers discovered the mechanisms behind axon degeneration that result from SARM1, usually a consequence of trauma or injury, but also inflammation or intraocular pressure associated with glaucoma. Milbrandt and DiAntonio documented the role<\/a> SARM1 plays in breaking down the body’s built-in protections for axons, including the chemical actions<\/a> used by SARM1 to destroy these protections.<\/p>\n

Disarm Therapeutics’ technology<\/a>, based on this research and licensed from Washington University, is a platform for developing treatments that limit the effects of SARM1 in axonal degeneration. The researchers say SARM1’s enzymatic activity offers a target for new therapies. The company also plans to develop non-invasive diagnostics to determine the extent of axonal degeneration and predict the likely effects of treatments.<\/p>\n

Rajesh Devraj, also a co-founder and the company’s current chief scientist, says in a company statement that Disarm plans to translate the research by Milbrandt and DiAntonio into “human proof of concept in a range of neurological diseases, supported by non-invasive biomarkers.”<\/p>\n

Milbrandt and DiAntonio are scientific advisors<\/a> to Disarm Therapeutics, which they founded in 2016 with Atlas Venture<\/a>, an early-stage life science venture investment company in Cambridge, Mass. Atlas Venture also led Disarm’s new venture financing, along with Lightstone Ventures and AbbVie Ventures, raising $30 million.<\/p>\n

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