The venture capital fund TVM Life Science Ventures VII, which has offices in Germany and Canada, is teaming up with the biotechnology company Neurimmune, which is headquartered in Schlieren in the canton of Zurich, to invest in AL-S Pharma AG, also based in Schlieren.
As Neurimmune writes in a statement, AL-S Pharma is developing AP-101, a treatment method for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a neurodegenerative diseases that attacks nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, leading to progressive paralysis of the muscles that control voluntary movement. Patients eventually lose their ability to breath and most people with ALS die from respiratory failure within three to give years from the onset of systems.
“ALS is a terrible disease, and we believe that AP-101 has the potential to provide therapeutic benefit to the patients suffering from it,” said Jan Grimm, CSO of Neurimmune and member of the board of AL-S Pharma.
TVM Capital Life Science, the parent company of the venture capital fund TVM Life Science Ventures VII, and AL-S Pharma have the option to engage with Chorus, an autonomous unit of Eli Lilly and Company, to execute an efficient clinical plan. AL-S Pharma plans to test its treatment in ALS patients in 2018.
