Prosensa raises 18M euros to fund two programs

Prosensa Holding, a Netherlands-based biotechnology company focused on RNA interference therapeutics using exon skipping technology, says it has closed an 18.0-million euro ($24.6 million) series B round. The investor base will be strengthened by Gimv (Antwerp, the Netherlands) and AGF (Paris, France). Current shareholders LSP and Abingworth, leading international investors based in Amsterdam and London, UK, respectively, and MedSciences Capital, also an existing shareholder, also participated in the round.

The company will use the funds to develop its two lead programs in the field of Duchenne muscular dystrophy through clinical proof-of-concept studies. Prosensa's exon skipping technology uses oligoribonucleotides to restore production of dystrophin, the protein defective in DMD patients. These oligonucleotides are designed to remove an unwanted segment of the faulty DMD gene product, and represent a major step toward the development of an effective therapy for DMD. There is currently no curative therapy for this lethal condition, the firm says.