Atalanta Therapeutics has netted a $97 million Series B financing to support Phase I clinical trials of the company’s lead investigational RNAi therapies for KCNT1-related epilepsy and Huntington’s disease. This financing brings Atalanta’s total capital generated to-date from financings and partnerships to $262M. IND submissions are planned for 2025.
The financing was co-led by EQT Life Sciences and Sanofi Ventures, with participation from other new investors RiverVest Venture Partners, Novartis Venture Fund, funds managed by abrdn, Pictet Alternative Advisors, Mirae Asset Financial Group, and GHR Foundation alongside existing investor F- Prime Capital.
Atalanta has a novel proposition. A key obstacle in using RNA interference (RNAi) to treat neurological diseases has been achieving distribution throughout the central nervous system.The biotech says its proprietary di-siRNA enables RNA interference to be deployed throughout the brain and spinal cord.
“This financing validates the truly transformative potential of Atalanta’s best- in-class di-siRNA platform for delivering oligonucleotide therapies to the central nervous system and the exciting promise of our expansive wholly- owned pipeline,” said Alicia Secor, Atalanta’s president and chief executive officer.
She added,“Importantly, this Series B will support a path to the clinic for two programs for serious neurological diseases that today lack disease-modifying therapies—KCNT1-related epilepsy and Huntington’s disease—and will anchor our growing franchise of investigational medicines for Huntington’s disease. We are diligently progressing these programs toward IND submissions next year so that we can start our Phase I trials and reach patients who are waiting.”
ATL-201 is Atalanta’s investigational therapy for KCNT1-related epilepsy, an early-onset seizure disorder and encephalopathy driven by gain-of-function variants in the KCNT1 gene. Infants and children with KCNT1-related epilepsy have severe, frequent seizures that are unable to be controlled with anti-seizure medications, and they often experience developmental delays and intellectual disability. ATL-201 is designed to reduce KCNT1 levels and to normalize neuronal excitability. In preclinical studies, ATL-201 produces a significant reduction of seizures and improvement in behavior with impressive durability and tolerability.
The company’s second development candidate, ATL-101, is a di-siRNA designed to silence the HTT gene for the treatment of Huntington’s disease. Huntington’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease caused by an expansion of the HTT gene, which leads to deterioration in a person’s physical, cognitive, and psychiatric abilities. Preclinical studies have shown that a single dose of ATL-101 produces a potent and strong reduction in HTT expression, including in deep brain regions, with six months of durability and excellent tolerability.
“Atalanta’s di-siRNA technology has shown promising ability to durably silence disease-promoting genes throughout previously inaccessible regions of the brain and spinal cord — opening a wide range of treatment possibilities for devastating neurological diseases,” said Arno de Wilde, MD, PhD, MBA, managing director at EQT Life Sciences, who was appointed to the biotech’s board as part of the financing.
“We are excited to partner with Atalanta as they enter their next chapter as a clinical-stage company,” added Jason Hafler, PhD, managing director at EQT Life Sciences. Hafler was also newly appointed to Atalanta’s board. “Their success to-date in advancing partnered di-siRNA programs is a strong validation of their ability to create meaningful new RNAi therapies, and Sanofi Ventures is glad to support Atalanta as they advance their exciting wholly-owned pipeline.”