To neutralize a virus that jeopardizes the success of a kidney transplant. This is one of the main objectives of the Swiss company Memo Therapeutics, in which Ysios Capital has invested. To this end, the management company focused on the biotechnology sector has participated in a 20.5 million euro extension of the financing round that the company closed in November. Taking into account this capital increase, in which Kurma Partners has also participated, the round has reached a total of 45 million Swiss francs, equivalent to 46 million euros.
Following this operation, Thomas Harth, principal at Ysios Capital, and Hadrien Bouchez, partner at Kurma Partners, will join the board of directors of the Swiss company. The round carried out in 2023, which is now being expanded with Ysios and Kurma Partners, was led by Pureos Bio and also included the participation of investors such as Swisscanto, Vesalius Biocapital, Adjuvant Capital, Verve Ventures, Schroders Capital, GF Group, Fresenius Medical Care Ventures and Red Alpine.
With this operation, Memo Therapeutics will advance in the clinical development of its main asset, AntiBKV. Currently in Phase II, its objective is to neutralize BK polyomavirus infection in kidney transplant recipients. This disease can be activated in immunosuppressed transplant patients and can lead to serious complications, as Harth explained to The New Barcelona Post. Infection by this virus represents a potential market of more than 1 billion dollars, and the Swiss company expects to obtain initial data from the Phase II trial in the first half of 2025, a stage in which the treatment is administered to large numbers of patients.
Of the 100,000 kidney transplants performed annually worldwide, 20,000 of them are at risk of developing an organ disease associated with this virus. This is because BKV infection mainly occurs in childhood and remains latent in healthy individuals, who "can control it with their immune system," as the Ysios principal illustrates. However, the immunosuppressive drug regimen received by transplant patients can trigger a reactivation of BKV, due to being in a situation "very vulnerable to viral infections."
Thus, this infection represents a significant threat after kidney transplantation, with severe adverse effects on organ function and, ultimately, on patient survival. So much so that BKV infection represents the main cause of organ loss. However, for now there is no available treatment for it, which currently can only be treated by reducing immunosuppression. Nevertheless, this measure substantially increases the risk of rejection of the transplanted kidney, which can also lead to transplant failure, reaching "the same result" as the infection. In this way, AntiBKV "has the potential to transform the lives of affected patients, who currently have no other therapeutic options."
Ysios Capital, with offices in Barcelona and San Sebastián, has more than 400 million in assets under managementIn addition to dedicating the funding obtained in the round to AntiBKV, Memo Therapeutics is developing a portfolio of preclinical-stage antibodies. All of them target oncological diseases and viral infections, using a technology that allows identifying and isolating antibodies. Specifically, they are based on the capacity of their antibody discovery platform, Dropzylla, which is capable of covering the antibody repertoire derived from a patient sample or a vaccinated animal.
The investment in Memo Therapeutics is the fifteenth from Ysios Capital's third fund, Ysios BioFund III. It is also the third so far this year, after having participated in a round totaling 120 million for the San Francisco biotech Neurona Therapeutics, and in another of 157 million from the also Californian Engrail Therapeutics. Ysios Capital, with offices in Barcelona and San Sebastián and with more than 400 million in assets under management, expands its portfolio with these investments, focused on transforming capital into medical advances.