Novo Holdings, the main shareholder of Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO), has led a $100 million Series C funding round for Swiss company Asceneuron, which is developing a next-generation treatment for Alzheimer's.
ASN51 is an oral small molecule drug targeting intracellular tau, protein tangles inside nerve cells, which could potentially revolutionize Alzheimer’s treatment, according to Novo's senior partner Naveed Siddiqi.
The drug has demonstrated in Phase 1 trials that it can be absorbed by the central nervous system and impact the OGA enzyme.
With the new funding, Asceneuron plans to advance ASN51 into a Phase 2 evaluation, which is expected to start in the second half of this year.
The data supports a daily dosing regimen for Alzheimer’s patients, which would be a major innovation as the first wave of drugs are administered intravenously or by injection.