The firm has a pipeline of KMO inhibitors exclusively licensed from the University of Edinburgh after a co-development programme with pharmaceutical giant GSK
Kynos Therapeutics, a spin-out company from the University of Edinburgh, has secured a funding injection of £9 million ($11.78 million) to build on its research and grow its team.
The £9m ($11.78m) cash boost comprises £6.5m ($8.51m) in equity financing led by Epidarex Capital, together with IP Group and Scottish Enterprise, alongside £2.5m ($3.27m) Innovate UK grant funding for a phase one clinical trial of its lead KMO inhibitor.
The firm has a pipeline of KMO inhibitors exclusively licensed from the University of Edinburgh after a co-development programme with pharmaceutical giant GSK.
KMO plays a major role in the control of inflammation and metabolism, contributing to the regulation of the immune system.
Professor Damian Mole, chief executive of Edinburgh-based Kynos Therapeutics, said: Our goal is to improve health and make a positive impact for patients, by developing our programme in the therapeutic area of inflammation and immunometabolism.
We are very excited by the potential of our first-in-class KMO inhibitors and we are ready to enter the clinic with our lead asset, he said.
Our programmes are based on extensive industry collaborative research with a robust science base supported by multiple high impact publications. There are no approved or marketed medicines for our gateway indication, for which there is a significant unmet need, he said.
Following the financing, Elizabeth Roper, partner at Epidarex Capital, and Tassos Konstantinou, investment manager, life sciences at IP Group, have joined Kynos’s board of directors.
Roper said: Kynos has a first-in-class set of KMO inhibitors that we believe have potential in multiple therapeutic areas. We look forward to working closely with the team and the syndicate to progress these assets into the clinic and to realise the potential of Kynos’s world-class science.
Sam Williams, managing partner of life sciences at IP Group, said: KMO is rapidly becoming a target of great interest in drug discovery. IP Group is excited to support Kynos as it seeks to become a leading player in the KMO field and develop inhibitors with the potential to transform patients’ lives across multiple indications.