Kyoto University has taken part in an $8.1m series A round for Alphanavi Pharma, which is developing drugs for neuropathic pain that will partly be based on the institution's research.

Kyoto University Innovation Capital, the university venture fund operated by Kyoto University, has joined partners including pharmaceutical firm Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma to form a Japan-based neuropathic pain treatment developer called AlphaNavi Pharma. The spinout is equipped with more than ¥900m ($8.1m) in series A funding from a consortium that includes SMBC Venture Capital, Shinsei Capital Partners and Chushin Venture Capital, subsidiaries of financial services firms Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, Shinsei Bank and Kyoto Chuo Shinkin Bank, as well as venture capital firm Nippon Venture Capital. AlphaNavi was founded in January 2019 as a spinoff from Sumitomo Dainippon. It will seek to advance pharmaceutical research that integrates advances originating from Kyoto University, starting with DSP-2230, a gene therapy candidate for neuropathic pain licensed from its parent company. The spinout expects to form a joint research agreement with Koizumi Akio, an emeritus professor at Kyoto University’s Graduate School of Medicine, to prove DSP-2230’s effectiveness in neuropathic indications such as episodic infantile limb pain syndrome, a genetic disorder characterised by recurrent episodes of distress in infants. Episodic infantile limb pain syndrome was identified by research groups led by Koizumi Akio and Tsutomu Takahashi, a professor in Akita University’s Graduate School of Medicine, which have isolated a specific genetic mutation in the SCN11A gene responsible for causing the condition. Takahashi said: “Now that we have identified the cause of episodic infantile limb pain syndrome, for which existing drugs have been ineffective, we believe that a therapy that inhibits the action of the causative gene could result in the development of the most promising treatment.”

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