Iama Therapeutics has raised a loan of 8 million euros. Over the next two years, he will test a drug for neurodevelopmental problems on humans
Genoa – The new Iama Therapeutics start-up, born from the research activity ofItalian Institute of Technology has raised € 8 million in funding for the development of a new drug candidate for drug related problems neurological development, such as conditions on the autism spectrum, Down syndrome, epilepsy and some rare diseases. The resources, obtained with the support of Claris Ventures Sgr and CDP Venture Capital Sgr, will allow clinical trials on humans to begin in the next two years.
“Iama is the fourth start-up launched by Iit in Life Sciences in less than a year”, comments Matteo Bonfanti, director of Iit Technology Transfer, “and is a living example of the quality of the ecosystem of technology transfer Italian”.
The new drug, called Iama-6, blocks the Nkcc1 protein, which has already been shown to be a target in treating the symptoms of these disorders. Its discovery led to its publication in the magazine Chem, in 2020, and was protected by a patent which involves, alongside the IIT, also Telethon Foundation, University of Genoa and University of Bologna.
«In the field of neurodevelopment there are very few effective compounds and even fewer are those who reach advanced stages of development to become drugs », comments Laura Cancedda, at the head of the research team together with Marco De Vivo. “We are excited to see how the research work started several years ago has laid solid foundations for the development of a possible new therapy,” adds the researcher. “The great interest shown by such high-level investors – concludes De Vivo – is also a demonstration of how much the multidisciplinarity of IIT put in place for Iama-6 has been a winning card”.
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