Copenhagen: Orphazyme ApS raises €14M in series A financing round

Orphazyme ApS successfully completed a €14 million Series A financing round. Participants were new investor Aescap Venture, as well as existing investors Novo A/S, and Sunstone Capital. In conjunction with the closing of the financing round, Dr. Kim Dueholm and Dr. Peter Moldt, both Partners at Novo Ventures, and Dr. Hakan Goker, Principal at Aescap Venture, will join Orphazyme`s Board of Directors.

Orphazyme was founded on the pioneering discovery related to the molecular chaperone, heat-shock protein 70, which reverts the pathology in cell extracts from patients suffering from various lysosomal storage diseases. Currently, only few treatment options exist for this family of serious genetic disorders, of which most are currently untreatable and often fatal, thus representing a significant unmet medical need. Orphazyme has applied its discovery capabilities to building a proprietary platform used for a novel and paradigm-changing approach to developing new treatments for these serious diseases.

Hakan Goker, Principal at Aescap Venture, said: "Lysosomal storage disorders, a group of debilitating diseases with high unmet medical need, still lack new and effective treatments. Our efforts in this space have identified Orphazyme as one of the best biotechs globally with potentially the most broadly applicable technology that can revolutionize the treatment of these diseases. We are proud to be able to support the strong leadership and science of Orphazyme, and be a part of this exciting development with an excellent syndicate of investors."

Kim Dueholm, Partner at Novo Ventures, said: "Novo A/S, through Novo Seeds, provided grant funding prior to becoming a shareholder and was a founding investor in Orphazyme. Novo Ventures is pleased to continue the funding provided by Novo A/S to Orphazyme. Novo A/S believed in Orphazyme from the beginning and we still find that Orphazyme has one the most promising approaches to finding a breakthrough treatment for several lysosomal storage diseases giving hope to patients suffering from these rare, but very serious disorders."

Sten Verland, existing member of the Board of Directors for Sunstone Capital, said: "Sunstone Capital has supported Orphazyme from the early stages of development and we are very pleased that the unique technology and the progress of Orphazyme`s lead preclinical development program have made it possible to attract a dedicated and experienced new investor to the syndicate."

Anders Hinsby, CEO of Orphazyme, said: "We are very pleased to have completed this €14 million Series A financing round and the commitment of such high quality investors. We are now well positioned to progress our lead program, Orph-001, into clinical development."