GERMANY – EMBL leads EUR 4.6m round for Elara Pharmaceuticals

Elara Pharmaceuticals was founded in 2006 as a spin-out of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg. It focuses on the discovery and development of hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) antagonizing drugs for the treatment of different cancers. The hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) signaling pathway is central for regulating the transcription of genes in response to decreases of oxygen, or hypoxia. As an example, HIF is promoting the formation of blood vessels, but it also stimulates growth and deregulates apoptotic processes in favor of cell survival. In cancer, HIF is therefore crucial for tumor growth, vascularization, formation of metastases and treatment failure.

The new capital will enable the company to advance its lead product candidate through an IND/IMPD application for the treatment of multiple myeloma.

Lead investor EMBL Ventures was joined by KfW and Wagnisfinanzierungsgesellschaft für Technologieförderung in Rheinland-Pfalz mbH, a subsidiary of Investitions- und Strukturbank Rheinland-Pfalz GmbH, which together committed EUR 2.6m.

The investment triggered a further EUR 2m from the two government bodies BMBF GOBio and the Biotechnologie Rhein-Neckar (BioRN) Spitzencluster programs, leading to a total funding of EUR 4.6m.

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• Topics
• Early-stage
• DACH