GeNeuro secures EUR 5 million to advance post-COVID and neurodegenerative disease treatments
Life sciences
5 February 2024
GeNeuro‘s mission is to leverage HERV biology to develop safe and effective treatments for the benefit of patients, by neutralizing causal factors encoded by HERVs that represent 8% of human DNA.
GeNeuro, a company known for its pioneering work in neurodegenerative and autoimmune diseases, has successfully completed a EUR 5 million capital increase.
GeNeuro, a Geneva-based biopharmaceutical company known for its pioneering work in neurodegenerative and autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis (MS), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and the severe neuropsychiatric consequences of COVID-19 (post-COVID), has successfully completed a EUR 5 million capital increase. This strategic financial move was facilitated through a private placement aimed at specialized and strategic investors, issuing 4,666,901 new bearer shares, alongside a public offering to individual investors in France via the PrimaryBid platform, totaling 95,004 new shares.
The new shares, each with a nominal value of CHF 0.05, were offered at a subscription price of EUR 1.05, including the nominal value and premium. Bryan, Garnier & Co served as the Sole Global Coordinator and Bookrunner for this operation. This fundraising effort represents a significant step for GeNeuro in completing its ongoing Phase 2 study in post-COVID conditions, which has already finalized patient recruitment in November last year, with results eagerly anticipated in June 2024.
Jesús Martin-Garcia, CEO of GeNeuro, highlighted the importance of this financial milestone: “This successful capital increase provides GeNeuro with the means to finish our ongoing Phase 2 study in post-COVID, extending the company’s financial visibility. Our post-COVID program with temelimab represents the first personalized therapeutic approach in this indication, focusing solely on patients positive for the pathogenic W-ENV protein.”
Notably, major shareholders such as GNEH SAS (a subsidiary of Institut Mérieux) and Servier participated in the private placement, reinforcing their commitment to GeNeuro’s innovative approach to treating autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases. Post-offer, GNEH will hold 40.2% of the capital and 40.5% of the voting rights, while Servier will own 8.4% of the capital and 8.5% of the voting rights, on a non-diluted basis.
The net proceeds from this offering, alongside GeNeuro’s current cash reserves, are primarily allocated to funding the completion of the Phase 2 post-COVID study and extending the company’s financial runway into the early third quarter of 2024. Concurrently, GeNeuro continues discussions in the MS field to identify the optimal development path for combining an effective anti-inflammatory treatment with temelimab, targeting neurodegeneration and disability progression.
