Cambridge joins $72.5m round launching mitochondrial therapies pioneer Pretzel

Pretzel Therapeutics, a biotechnology company harnessing the intricacies of mitochondrial biology to develop ground breaking therapies, launched today with a $72.5 million Series A financing to pioneer novel therapies to modulate mitochondrial function. The financing was led by ARCH Venture Partners and Mubadala Capital with participating investors HealthCap, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Cambridge Enterprise, Angelini Ventures, GV, Invus, Eir Ventures, GU Ventures, and Karolinska Institutet Holding.

Dysfunctional mitochondria are involved in more than 50 diseases. The most severe of these are broadly termed mitochondrial diseases, a group of rare genetic conditions which affect individuals of all ages. Mitochondrial dysfunction also plays an important role in more common diseases, including aging-related disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. In addition, modulating mitochondrial biology presents a potential approach to the treatment of diseases not directly caused by mitochondrial dysfunction, for instance cancer and metabolic diseases.

Pretzel’s platform encompasses three primary technologies to modulate mitochondrial function: genome correction, genome expression modulation, and mitochondrial quality control. The company’s genome correction therapeutics will utilize specialized gene-editing tools to reduce mutated mitochondrial DNA and increase the levels of healthy mitochondrial DNA. Genome expression modulation will be accomplished using small molecules that act on the enzymes involved in mitochondrial DNA replication, transcription, and translation. Finally, mitochondrial quality control will be targeted using small molecules that modulate mitochondria’s built-in quality control system.

Pretzel’s founders include three leading academics in the field of mitochondrial biology. Claes Gustafsson is Professor of Medical Biochemistry at the University of Gothenburg. Michal Minczuk is a Group Leader and MRC Investigator at the MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit, University of Cambridge, and an expert in mitochondrial genome engineering. Nils-Göran Larsson is Pprofessor of Mitochondrial Genetics at Karolinska Institutet.

In addition to Drs. Gustafsson, Minczuk, and Larsson, founders Gabriel Martinez and Paul Thurk played formative roles in the company’s creation based on their deep biotechnology industry expertise. Finally, the company recognizes the contributions of Gunther Kern, Jeremy Green, and Christina Trojel-Hansen to its formation.