Booster Therapeutics

Booster Therapeutics is a Berlin-based biotechnology firm established in 2020, concentrating on the development of a novel class of medicines designed to activate the body's natural protein clearance systems. The company was co-founded by Dr. Diogo Feleciano, Professor Dr. Darci Trader of the University of California Irvine, and the venture capital firm Apollo Health Ventures, as a direct result of Apollo's company creation initiatives. The foundational science stems from the pioneering work of its founders in proteasome biology.

In October 2024, the company officially launched and announced it had secured $15 million in a seed financing round. The funding was co-led by Apollo Health Ventures and Novo Holdings, the investment arm of the Novo Nordisk Foundation. This capital is intended to advance the company's proprietary drug discovery platform and move its therapeutic candidates toward proof-of-concept. The corporate strategy is guided by Dr. Diogo Feleciano as Chief Scientific Officer and Dr. João Ribas of Novo Holdings as interim Chief Business Officer.

The company's core business revolves around developing small molecule therapeutics that activate 20S proteasomes, a key component of cellular machinery responsible for degrading misfolded or damaged proteins. Unlike conventional protein degradation therapies that typically target a single protein at a time using ubiquitin tags, Booster's approach aims to restore the function of the 20S proteasome directly. This method allows for the clearance of a wide range of harmful proteins without needing ubiquitin, offering a more comprehensive solution for complex diseases driven by multiple protein dysfunctions. The initial therapeutic focus is on major neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, where impaired proteasome function is a known factor.

Booster Therapeutics leverages its proprietary DGRADX™ platform, which originated in Dr. Trader's lab, to identify and develop its drug candidates. This platform integrates automated high-throughput screening with advanced structural biology, including X-ray crystallography, and computational tools to discover novel proteasome activator compounds. The business model is typical of a preclinical biotechnology company, focusing on research and development with the goal of creating a multi-disease pipeline to address various proteinopathies, potentially through future partnerships or licensing agreements.

Keywords: proteasome activation, protein degradation, neurodegenerative diseases, small molecule therapeutics, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, DGRADX platform, protein homeostasis, Apollo Health Ventures, Novo Holdings, drug discovery, biotechnology, proteinopathies, 20S proteasome, cellular quality control, targeted protein degradation, preclinical, therapeutic development, Diogo Feleciano, Darci Trader