University of Oxford joined Oxford Sciences Innovation to back neuromuscular disease therapy spinout PepGen, which will move its base to the US.
PepGen, a UK-based neuromuscular disease therapeutics spinout of University of Oxford, completed a $45m series A round yesterday involving the university and its venture fund Oxford Sciences Innovation (OSI).
The round was led by RA Capital Management with additional participation from CureDuchenne Ventures, the impact fund for research and patient care foundation CureDuchenne.
Founded in 2018, PepGen is working on cell-penetrating peptide conjugates for genetic diseases including the neuromuscular gene disorder Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which causes muscle wasting and weakness.
PepGen’s conjugate corrects genetic defects to allow the body to express a protein called dystrophin that is depleted in neuromuscular diseases, hypothetically restoring their muscles’ structural integrity.
Its peptides are also able to reach cardiac tissue in order to address heart disease, a common complication of neuromuscular and cardiovascular diseases, especially once the patient grows older.
The series A cash will help progress the technology into the clinic, initially to target Duchenne muscular dystrophy, with further research into other neurologic and neuromuscular diseases.
PepGen is preparing to relocate its corporate headquarters to Boston, Massachusetts, although it will retain its research hub in the UK.
OSI put £4.5m ($5.2m) of seed funding into PepGen in early 2018. A regulatory filing also identified CureDuchenne as a backer and the UK government’s Medical Research Council (MRC) as a shareholder.
PepGen’s technology has its roots in research supervised by Matthew Wood, a professor of neuroscience in University of Oxford’s Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, and Mike Gait, a programme leader in MRC’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology.
