[Funding alert] Lausanne-based Mitochondrial Therapeutics Company Vandria Secures $20.6M in Series A Round Funding

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Vandria was spun out of Amazentis SA in 2021 with backing by ND Capital to develop first-in-class small molecule mitophagy inducers against a novel target to rejuvenate cells and treat age-related and chronic diseases.

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The company’s impressive management team includes senior pharma executive Klaus Dugi, MD as CEO, mitochondrial expert Penelope Andreux, PhD as CSO, and life sciences entrepreneur Peter Harboe-Schmidt, MSc, MBA, as Head of BD & Finance.

Penelope Andreux, CSO of Vandria, said: “The potential of mitophagy as a new therapeutic approach for tackling CNS disorders is increasingly recognised by the pharmaceutical industry. Our lead candidate, VNA-318, has neuroprotective and anti-neuroinflammatory effects and has been demonstrated to improve cognition in disease-relevant models. We believe it has the potential to impact a range of CNS indications and we look forward to starting clinical development in 2024.”

Klaus Dugi, CEO of Vandria, said: “ND Capital has been a highly supportive investor through our startup phase and our Series A financing. 2024 will be a transformative year for Vandria as it becomes a clinical stage company with a novel small molecule designed to address cognitive impairment and neurodegeneration - areas of critical patient need in an aging world population. The company has made rapid progress in the past two years and has an exciting future. We look forward to welcoming additional investors to support the further clinical development of VNA-318 and deliver on the wider potential of Vandria’s mitophagy platform to treat age-related and chronic diseases.”

Dani Bach, Partner, ND Capital, and director of Vandria said: “Targeting mitochondria is emerging as a very hot area in drug development as evidenced by several recent M&A deals and VC financings. With Vandria’s potential first-in-class drugs for a target that has been validated in humans, we think we are ahead of the pack. We have worked closely with the company to assemble a world-class leadership team and attract high-calibre advisors and additional investors. It exemplifies the strength of our company-building model.”.

About Vandria

Vandria is at the vanguard of mitochondrial therapeutics. It is developing first-in-class mitophagy inducers that rejuvenate cells to treat age-related and chronic diseases. Its lead program, VNA-318 is a brain-penetrant, patent-protected, mitophagy inducer which has been shown to acutely improve memory and learning and to have strong disease-modifying effects in models of neurodegenerative disease such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease.

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