Kenai nabs $82M for off-the-shelf, neuron-replacing cell therapy
29 Feb 2024
Cell TherapyPhase 1Clinical Result
Kenai Therapeutics raised an $82-million series A on Thursday to bring its allogeneic cell therapy for Parkinson’s disease (PD) to the clinic. The round was co-led by Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation, Cure Ventures and The Column Group, and saw participation from Euclidean Capital and Saisei Ventures.
Lead programme RNDP-001 is an iPSC-derived dopamine progenitor cell therapy designed to replace neurons that PD patients have lost to neurodegeneration. Kenai chair Jeff Jonas called the treatment “potentially curative,” adding that it could “dramatically alter outcomes for patients with very few treatment options.”
According to the company, RNDP-001 has demonstrated survival, innervation, and behavioural rescue in preclinical PD models. Kenai is partnered with FUJIFILM Cellular Dynamics to manufacture the therapy, which is cryopreserved to be available off-the-shelf.
Thursday’s financing will provide Kenai with enough runway to file for and complete a Phase I trial of the candidate, which is expected to launch within the year.
The cell therapy’s clinical entrance will follow that of a similar treatment from Bayer and its subsidiary BlueRock Therapeutics. Their human embryonic PSC-derived therapy bemdaneprocel is designed to replace dopaminergic neuron precursors by surgically implanting the cell therapy into the brain.
In August, BlueRock reported that bemdaneprocel achieved its primary safety endpoints in 12 patients with PD and showed improvements in exploratory efficacy endpoints. For more, see Spotlight On: Bayer showcases latest fruit of cell therapy investment.
Kenai’s pipeline also includes two preclinical gene-modified iPSC therapy programmes for PD, the first in development for mild to severe rapid progressing disease, and the second for young onset PD.
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