SAN DIEGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Engrail Therapeutics™ (Engrail) (the Company) today announced the close of a $32 million Series A financing round. Nan Fung Life Sciences (NFLS), the global investment platform of the Nan Fung Group, led the round. The Company plans to use the proceeds from the financing to support the clinical development of its first pipeline asset, ENX-101, a sub-type selective GABA A modulator.
“We look forward to supporting Engrail’s team of passionate entrepreneurs as it acquires assets and moves these compelling therapies through the clinic.”
“Neuroscience is making massive strides. As the brain’s complexities and molecular mechanisms have become clearer, we are better able to identify disease targets, which has also a supported a resurgence in funding neuroscience drug development,” said Vikram Sudarsan, Ph.D., CEO and president, Engrail Therapeutics. “These factors have contributed to recent clinical and commercial success across the industry. However, significant unmet needs persist, placing immense disease burden on patients. Our goal is to build a leading neuroscience company fueled by a robust pipeline. We are focused on the acquisition, development and commercialization of patient-centric neuroscience therapeutics. ENX-101 represents the first milestone in this effort.”
Dr. Sudarsan continued, “We are pleased to close this financing round with a world-class investor who believes in the bold vision of our new company. With these resources and a long-term commitment from NFLS to invest $1.5 billion in the life sciences sector, we will leverage our unique, flexible transaction model to build a world-class neuroscience company.”
Engrail adopts a ‘science-first’ approach that begins with a thorough biological understanding of disease and rational therapeutic targeting, enabling the Company to identify compounds with greater opportunity to address patient unmet needs. This, combined with a comprehensive view of clinical development strategy, regulatory considerations, intellectual property and optimal commercial positioning, allows Engrail to acquire high-quality assets with a lower-risk path to market. The Company expects to acquire assets with validated mechanisms, ultimately catalyzing a diverse portfolio of therapies to treat diseases of the nervous system. Engrail’s flexible transaction model includes licensing, co-development and company acquisitions.
“Engrail’s dynamic model for advancing drugs aimed at treating life-limiting diseases of the nervous system is exactly the innovation this complex field requires,” said Peter Bisgaard, managing director of NFLS and chairman of Engrail’s board of directors. “We look forward to supporting Engrail’s team of passionate entrepreneurs as it acquires assets and moves these compelling therapies through the clinic.”
About Engrail Therapeutics
Founded in 2019, Engrail is forging a new direction to reduce the enormous burden of diseases that impact the nervous system. We unite biological insights with clinically meaningful solutions to build and catalyze a diversified portfolio of transformative medicines. Harnessing our rigorous scientific approach to identify the most promising therapies, we leverage our flexible transaction model to advance assets with validated mechanisms and efficiently move them through development to commercialization. Engrail is supported by a long-term capital commitment from Nan Fung Life Sciences. For more information, visit www.engrail.com.
About Nan Fung Life Sciences
Nan Fung Life Sciences is a global life sciences investment platform with a long-term capital commitment from the Nan Fung Group. Our team possesses diverse experience with long track records in company formation, venture capital, growth/buyout investments, and drug discovery and development. Through direct investments via Pivotal bioVenture Partners US and Pivotal bioVenture Partners China as well as fund investments, we cover the full spectrum of the life sciences industry including therapeutics, medical devices and diagnostics and across all development stages. To learn more, visit www.nanfunglifesciences.com.