Company’s strategy involves targeting the buildup of neurotoxic proteins.
Link Medicine received $40 million through a series C equity financing to advance its lead preclinical programs into clinical testing. The round was funded by Clarus Ventures and SV Life Sciences.
Link Medicine focuses on neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The company is pursuing drugs that target a common feature of these disorders—the buildup in nerve cells of incorrectly folded, aggregated, and ultimately neurotoxic proteins.
The first candidates to proceed into clinical testing, which is expected by 2009, will be inAlzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, according to Adam J. Rosenberg, CEO. While the primary focus of this financing is to develop novel compounds, the company is also in-licensing a candidate, which has completed Phase I studies in a separate indication, Rosenberg adds. He says that the molecule is currently completing preclinical evaluations.
Rosenber also states that the firm is looking into partnering at least one of its earlier preclinical candidates in the near future and will continue to look for strategic collaborations and other sources of financing.