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Artica Therapeutics has announced the successful completion of a seed financing round worth €12 million. This significant investment is an indicator of investors’ confidence in the innovative approach to drug development adopted by Artica and its ability to address unmet medical needs.
Company Overview
Artica Therapeutics is founded in 2020. Its focus area includes the development of novel small molecule medicines for inflammatory and autoimmune indications. The company leads in covalent binding technology and label-free cellular-based screening approaches. Such a unique combination of the company is rapidly advancing the candidates that are supposed to possess unprecedented and superior characteristics. In such a manner, they will develop highly selective therapies for patients who need unmet medical care.
Read also: Leyden Labs a Dutch biotech has raised $70M in funding
Leadership Team
Artica’s management team is comprised of highly experienced professionals in pharmaceutical research and development:
- Tjeerd Barf, PhD: Co-founder and CEO, Tjeerd has a rich background in delivering clinical candidates across various therapeutic areas, including metabolic diseases, autoimmune disorders, and oncology. Notably, he co-founded Acerta Pharma and contributed to the discovery and approval of the BTK inhibitor Calquence.
- Arwin Ridder: As COO, Arwin brings in valuable experience from his tenure at Astellas to enhance Artica’s operational capabilities.
- Prof. Ad IJzerman: As an academic expert in G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), Prof. IJzerman provides critical insights into target selection and drug design.
Investment Details
Thuja Capital and Seroba co-led the €12 million seed financing round. The round saw the participation of InnovationQuarter as well as the founding investor BioGeneration Ventures, also known as BGV. This funding will help Artica further its pipeline of covalent small molecules in changing the treatment landscape of autoimmune and inflammatory disorders.
Read also: MiRXES Secures $40 Million Funding to Expand Cancer Diagnostics in Asia
Investor Views
‘Artica’s team harbors a top-notch expertise regarding covalent drug development, which is an important reason to invest in Artica. We are extremely happy to be able to support Artica’s mission to develop better treatments addressing unmet medical needs.'”
Alan O’Connell, Partner at Seroba: “We have been monitoring the covalent space for a while and were drawn to the fact that Artica was able to tap into this vast opportunity. We believe this strategy may well help uncover the next wave of therapies needed to treat the enormous unmet needs in autoimmune disease.”
Read also: A2 Biotherapeutics Secures $80M to Advance Precision Cell Therapies
Covalent Binding Technology: A Paradigm Shift
Artica’s strategy lies in the synthesis of covalent drugs, which irreversibly bind to the target. In essence, the irreversible binding causes prolonged potent inhibition of proteins responsible for causing diseases even with overstimulation. The strengths of covalent drugs include:
- The increased efficacy by ensuring that targets are inhibited through irreversible binding can result in effective clinical outcomes.
- In increased selectivity. Covalent modification allows one to target precise disease-related proteins and minimize side effects.
- Improved Safety Profile: Since the covalent drugs achieve strong effects at much lower doses, they are less likely to induce adverse reactions.
Pipeline and Future Directions
Artica will advance its pipeline of covalent small molecules into clinical trials using preclinical development. The company focuses on autoimmune and inflammatory disorders that have huge unmet medical needs, thus promising hope to the patients who are left with very few treatment options.
Summary:
Artica Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on the discovery of covalent small molecule drugs, has secured seed financing of up to €12 million. This seed financing will accelerate the development of novel therapies targeting autoimmune and inflammatory diseases using its proprietary covalent binding technology.
