STAT+: Biotech launches with $82 million for Parkinson’s cell therapy
Kenai Therapeutics plans to move into a clinical trial within the year for its lead drug candidate for people with Parkinson’s.
The dream of being able to pluck a cell therapy off of a freezer shelf and speedily give it to cancer patients is materializing in the cancer world. Now, a new biotech hopes to do the same for patients with neurological conditions.
Kenai Therapeutics closed a $82 million Series A round Thursday co-led by Cure Ventures, The Column Group, and sovereign wealth fund Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. The San Diego-based biotech has big plans for that money — it’s already identified its lead drug candidate for people with Parkinson’s disease, and plans to move into a clinical trial within the next year.
Kenai — pronounced key-nigh — is developing therapies that use induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPSCs. These highly versatile organisms are derived from skin or blood cells and can be transformed into any type of cell. In Parkinson’s, the idea is that these cells would replace damaged neurons.
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