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Citryll completes €18.5 M fundraise to develop CIT-013, an antibody targeting Neutrophil Extracellular Traps

Oss, The Netherlands, July 2, 2020 — Citryll announced it closed a total fundraise of € 18.5 million, led by Seventure (including their Health for Life Capital II fund), co-led by BioGeneration Ventures (BGV) with existing investors BOM Brabant Ventures, BrightGene and ModiQuest contributing to this round. In addition, Citryll has been awarded an Innovation Credit from the Dutch Government through its agency RVO of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy set up to stimulate the development of high potential innovations.


The proceeds will be used to advance the pre-clinical and clinical development of Citryll’s CIT-013 therapeutic antibody, an inhibitor of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) and their formation (NETosis).


“We welcome this significant investment by a strong investor syndicate from Europe and China and the substantial support by the Dutch Government. CIT-013 has therapeutic potential for autoimmune disorders such as lupus, organ damage due to sepsis, asthma and NET-induced thrombosis. CIT-013 does not broadly target inflammation or acquired immunity, instead it extinguishes the source of autoantigens, NET-derived toxic, prothrombotic and proinflammatory components in the safest way currently possible”, says CEO Helmuth van Es.


“We are excited to be able to invest in Citryll, as the company is an excellent example of a first-in-class therapeutic innovation that could significantly reduce the mortality of a number of chronic diseases by reducing organ damage. Growing scientific and clinical insight shows that NET formation and chronic NET exposure plays an important role in a range of human pathologies and intersects with our core interest in microbiome biology. We look forward to support the further development of Citryll”, says Isabelle de Cremoux, CEO and Managing Partner of Seventure Partners.


The Citryll team is a world leader and pioneer in the NETosis space with a high-potential therapeutic antibody in development, and we are proud to support them to advance their lead compound into the clinic” says BGV‘s Managing Partner Edward van Wezel.


The preclinical development and manufacturing process of CIT-013 was accelerated in 2019 through the first closing of the financing round by existing investors BOM Brabant Ventures, BrightGene, Curie Capital, and ModiQuest. The program is on track to reach the clinic in 2021.

Source: Citryll