British biotechnology company NRG Therapeutics on Monday said it raised £50 million, or about $67 million, to advance its lead experimental medicine for neurodegenerative disorders into clinical testing.
The biotech is developing oral drugs to block a type of protein complex inside mitochondria, the organelles that supply cells with the energy they need to survive. Inhibiting this complex, known as mPTP for short, could help protect mitochondria from toxic proteins that lead to cell death in conditions like Parkinson’s and ALS, NRG said.
Preclinical testing gave the company hope its most advanced drug, a small molecule dubbed NRG-5051, might be able to reduce brain inflammation and treat Parkinson’s and ALS. With the new funding, the company aims to bring that therapy into clinical trials by early 2026.
Other drug startups working in neuroscience have been taking a closer look at mitochondria of late. AbbVie in 2023 acquired a company called Mitokinin, which was developing an experimental treatment designed to treat brain diseases by protecting mitochondria. Pretzel Therapeutics launched in 2022 and has since brought to testing a drug for so-called mitochondrial DNA depletion syndromes.
Neil Miller, NRG’s CEO and co-founder, said the advances reflect an improving understanding of how to drug mitochondria. Much past research on mitochondrial therapies “hasn’t been particularly specific,” with earlier medicines typically “taken into the clinic in ‘suboptimal circumstances,’” he said.
Seven venture firms participated in NRG’s Series B round, including SV Health Investors’ Dementia Discovery Fund, which led the financing, as well as Omega Funds and the venture arms of Merck KGaA and Novartis.
Miller and co-founders Richard Rutter and Grant Hawthorne — the first initials of whom comprise NRG’s name — formed the startup in 2018 after shuttering their previous biotech company, Auspherix. Though a “tough sell” to investors when starting up, NRG was able to survive through grants and investments from specialized funds such as Parkinson's UK and the Michael J. Fox Foundation. It raised a £16 million Series A round led by Omega Funds in 2022.
According to Miller, renewed investment interest in neuroscience among large pharmaceutical companies has given hope to biotechs like NRG, Miller said. The company is currently searching for pharma partners to help develop and commercialize its therapies, he said.
“It feels to me we’re on the cusp of a major change,” Miller added.
