MyoPax lands first B# Plus pre-seed to push muscle therapy toward trials
What's the deal? Berlin biotech MyoPaxDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has raised an undisclosed pre-seed round led by IBB VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, becoming the first company backed by the fund's new B# Plus track for deep-tech teams with at least one female founder. The money will advance pharmaceutical-grade manufacturing and prepare the company's first therapeutic candidate for clinical testing.
What's the endgame? MyoPax develops cell and gene therapies for genetic muscle-wasting diseases that currently have no cure. Its platform pairs regenerative muscle stem cell therapy with CRISPR/Cas gene repair to correct disease-causing mutations.
Why now? The company, a spin-off from Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Max Delbrück Center, was already preparing its first clinical trial. The fresh capital complements existing support from the European Union's EIC Accelerator programme, moving the technology closer to patients.
Its patented method isolates and cultivates muscle stem cells, producing more than 100 million pharmaceutical-grade stem cells from only a few grams of tissue. The company is led by co-founders Prof. Dr. Simone Spuler, Dr. Diane Seimetz, and managing director Dr. Verena Schöwel-Wolf.
What could go wrong? No clinical results exist yet. The round is a step toward translation, not evidence of success, and the undisclosed sum makes it hard to gauge the round's scale against other biotech financings.
IBB Ventures said it had tracked the team for years before investing. "We are convinced by the technological platform, the founders' in-depth medical expertise and their progress towards clinical validation," said Ute Mercker, investment director at IBB Ventures.
The signal: B# Plus, which extends Berlin's €11 million B# pre-seed fund and is financed through the European Regional Development Fund, signals a targeted push to back female-led deep-tech teams. MyoPax, a Berlin Deep Tech Award winner, is its first test case.
Read more: finsmes.com
Image credit: MyoPax
