Michael Westhagemann, Hamburg's Senator for Economics, remarked: "We have been involved in GeneQuine via the Innovationsstarter Fonds Hamburg since 2012. We are very pleased with the startup's success in the latest financing round. It shows that our Innovationsstarter Fonds at IFB help important companies and their great ideas to break through with the right investment decisions." GeneQuine is an international sucesss story, he added. The company is headquartered in Harburg and operates a research and development laboratory in Luckenwalde (Brandenburg) and a subsidiary in Liège (Belgium).
Series A financing to boost gene therapy pipeline for musculoskeletal diseases
The Hamburg-based GeneQuine Biotherapeutics GmbH, which specialises in gene therapy for musculoskeletal disorders, has raised EUR 5.4 million in a Series A financing and EUR 3.65 million in non-dilutive funding bringing the total amount raised to EUR 9.05 million, a press release said Tuesday (January 26, 2021). The latest investment round was led by Pacira BioSciences, Inc. a U.S. pharmaceutical company and leading provider of non-opioid pain management and regenerative health solutions, headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey. GeneQuine develops medicine to treat musculoskeletal diseases such as osteoarthritis, arthritis, osteoporosis and back pain. The startup had launched with seed investment from the Innovationsstarter Fonds Hamburg by the Hamburgische Investitions- und Förderbank (IFB Hamburg).
IFB's inolvment in GeneQuine
Developing advanced gene therapy drugs
The company now hopes that a single, local injection of its gene therapy medication could have a long-term effect, unlike most conventional gene therapy drugs that require repeated applications. GeneQuine plans to invest the fresh capital in advancing its GQ-303 for osteoarthritis (OA) to a phase 1 clinical trial, developing new gene therapies for disc degeneration, expanding its gene therapy vector platform and growing the business.
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IFB Hamburg
As the City of Hamburg’s development bank, the Hamburgische Investitions- und Förderbank (IFB Hamburg) backs housing and economic development as well as environmental protection and innovation projects. IFB Hamburg is the main point of contact for private individuals, companies and institutions in Hamburg. It offers advice about all funding offers in Hamburg and those of the German government and the EU.
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