Fortuna Fix

About Fortuna Fix

Fortuna Fix operated as a clinical-stage regenerative medicine company with a focus on neuronal repair for conditions such as Parkinson's Disease, Spinal Cord Injury, stroke, and ALS. The company was founded in 2015, with Jan-Eric Ahlfors serving as CEO and Chief Scientific Officer. Ahlfors' work on the underlying technology began over a decade prior, evolving through various entities including his research think tank New World Laboratories and a predecessor company named Ophiuchus.

The company's core business revolved around its patented technology for producing autologous directly reprogrammed Neural Precursor Cells (drNPC™). This process involved taking a patient's own fully differentiated cells, such as those from bone marrow, and chemically reprogramming them into neural stem cells without genetic manipulation, viral vectors, or the use of embryonic material. A key benefit of this autologous approach was the potential to avoid the need for immunosuppressant drugs in patients. The process was designed for a fully automated manufacturing system, capable of producing 100 million neural stem cells from a patient's sample in approximately six weeks at its GMP plant in Montreal.

Fortuna Fix also developed a complementary technology, the Regeneration Matrix™ (RMx™), a proprietary bio-scaffold designed as an off-the-shelf product to support neural tissue regrowth and prevent secondary damage after acute neurotrauma. In November 2017, the company secured a significant milestone with a $25 million Series B financing round, co-led by Amgen Ventures. The capital was earmarked to advance its lead programs into Phase I/IIa clinical trials and to further scale its automated manufacturing capabilities. However, the company's trajectory was halted when it filed a notice of intention to make a proposal to its creditors in February 2020 and was deemed bankrupt in March 2020.