Ysios invests in California's Engrail as part of a 157 million round

Ysios Capital has backed the work that the pharmaceutical company Engrail Therapeutics is leading in the field of neuroscience from San Diego. The venture capital company has participated in a financing round with which the biotech has raised 157 million dollars. In the operation, the management company specialized in biotechnology has joined an international syndicate of prominent investors, led by F-Prime Capital, Forbion, and Norwest Venture Partners. The round also included the participation of Red Tree Venture Capital, RiverVest Venture Partners, funds managed by Abrdn, Longwood Fund, Eight Roads Ventures, and the existing founding investor, Pivotal Life Science.

The venture capital firm, with offices in Barcelona and San Sebastián, has invested in the Californian biotech for its varied and promising development of treatments for psychiatric disorders and rare diseases, among which drugs to combat anxiety and depression stand out. Among them, the company's main product stands out: ENX-102. Aimed at generalized anxiety disorder, it is characterized by a differential element: it eliminates the side effects produced by other anti-anxiety drugs.

The anti-anxiety medications now available are usually effective in only about 60% of patients. For those who do not respond adequately, benzodiazepines are often used, which entail multiple remarkable side effects, among which a powerful dependence and drowsiness stand out.

In this context, Engrail Therapeutics is developing this drug for patients with chronic anxiety, with the aim that they have an effective treatment without side effects, as its president and CEO, Vikram Sudarsan, explains to The New Barcelona Post. This distinctive characteristic of the drug captured Ysios' interest, as it responds to "an unmet medical need," according to the company's partner, Guillem Laporta.

The drug's main target is patients with chronic anxiety. Currently, they have treatment options that are not effective for everyone, or benzodiazepines. Precisely because of their powerful addictive potential, they cannot be administered for long periods of time, when this type of patient might require it. ENX-102 also addresses this issue because, according to the results obtained so far, the addiction potential is much lower, as explained by Engrail Therapeutics' Head of Commercial Strategy, Camilla Gomiero Wade.

The drug's clinical study is currently in phase II, during which it will evaluate its effects on large numbers of patients. The biotech company, which has raised 220 million dollars since its founding in 2019, expects to have the results of this phase in 2025.

With four drugs in development, Engrail works with a varied pipeline focused on neuropsychiatric disorders and rare diseases.

This disease is caused by a genetic defect that leads to an abnormal distribution of copper in the body, which has serious consequences such as severe neurodegeneration, hypotonia, and weakness. As it is a genetic disease, it especially affects children, and reduces their life expectancy to very early ages, something that Engrail's drug ENX-103 aims to change.

With these four drugs in development, Engrail works with a varied pipeline focused on neuropsychiatric disorders and rare diseases. "Investing in Engrail is like investing in multiple companies, due to the variety of drugs it develops," defended Laporta, who highlighted that this fact contributes to diversifying Ysios' portfolio, which has more than 400 million euros in assets under management through its three funds.

The venture capital company, founded in 2008, has invested in the Californian biotech through its third fund. Through Ysios BioFund III, it has made 14 investments, including that of Engrail, which is Ysios' second so far this year. With its work, the company aims to transform capital into medical advances, especially in the face of unmet medical needs, and with the goal of generating a positive impact on society.