Citryll Completes First Closing of a € 15M Series A to Develop its NETosis Inhibiting Antibody

Citryll announced today the first closing of a targeted € 15 million investment round, funded by ModiQuest B.V., BOM Brabant Ventures, BrightGene, and Curie Capital. The proceeds will be used to progress the pre-clinical and clinical development of Citryll’s tACPA antibodies, inhibitors of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) and their formation (NETosis). tACPA interferes with the formation, function and clearance of NETs, but downstream of the peptidylarginine deiminase (PAD) dependant citrullination pathway. It does so by binding to N-terminal citrullinated epitopes in histones that are essential for NET formation.

 “We believe that drugs that interfere with NETs and their production have the potential to create game changing new treatments to prevent or treat human diseases. tACPA targets autoimmune and other diseases such as lupus, vasculitis, pulmonary fibrosis, rheumatoid arthritis and organ damage due to sepsis. Citryll’s approach does not broadly target inflammation or acquired immunity, instead it extinguishes the source of autoantigens and (NET)-derived toxic molecules in the safest way currently possible”, says CEO Helmuth van Es.

“We welcome the investment by this investor syndicate from the Netherlands and China, which will allow the development of Citryll’s antibody therapeutic for patients with significant medical needs”, says ModiQuest CEO, co-inventor of tACPA, Jos Raats.

“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 can have a strong impact on patients’ lives. An increasing amount of scientific data shows that NET formation plays a crucial role across various disease types, therefore we look forward to support the further development of tACPA”, says BOM Brabant Ventures Investment Manager Sjoerd van Gorp, speaking for the investor syndicate.

Source: Citryll