Orphazyme, a newly established Danish biotech company receives pre-seed grant from Novo Seeds
Copenhagen, Denmark (1 July 2009):
Orphazyme, a newly established Danish biotech company engaged in the development of new methods to treat rare, severe genetic diseases for which there is no treatment available today (orphan diseases), announces that it has received a pre-seed grant from the Novo Nordisk Foundation via Novo Seeds. Orphazyme aims to provide a novel way of targeting a series of orphan diseases known as lysosomal storage diseases with a single agent, hereby addressing the need for therapy for patients suffering from these grave diseases.
“We are very happy to receive this pre-seed grant, which allows us to rapidly validate Orphazyme technology in a series of lysosomal storage diseases and begin drug development”, says CEO Thomas Kirkegaard Jensen, one of four founders of Orphazyme.
Bobby Soni, Associate at Novo Seeds, comments on the pre-seed grant:
”We are pleased to provide a pre-seed grant to Orphazyme that enables its formation as a new biotech company and supports its validation efforts. Orphazyme was a clear pre-seed candidate as it is founded on an excellent scientific base with clear therapeutic potential. We believe that Orphazyme can provide sought after treatments for those afflicted by lysosomal storage disorders”
About Orphazyme
The mission of Orphazyme is to provide therapy for patients suffering from lysosomal storage diseases, which today are without treatment. The main current focus of Orphazyme is to further validate its proprietary technology in an expanded set of lysosomal storage diseases and initiate clinical trials.
About Novo Seeds
Novo Seeds is a life science supporting program launched by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and Novo A/S. Novo Seeds has two components, a pre-seed funding capacity and a seed financing fund. Both aim at identifying and developing the unexplored commercial potential present in academic and early stage applied research projects at universities and biotech companies within life science in Scandinavia.
About the Novo Nordisk Foundation
The Novo Nordisk Foundation is a self-governing and profit-making foundation. The objective of the Novo Nordisk Foundation is twofold: to provide a stable basis for the commercial and research activities conducted by the companies within the Novo Group, and to support scientific, humanitarian and social purposes. Most of the grants are awarded to medical and scientific projects and to select other research areas. The decision to award grants is the responsibility of scientific committees. For further information visit www.novonordiskfonden.dk
About Novo A/S
Novo A/S, the holding company in the Novo Group, was established prior to the de-merger of Novo Nordisk in 2000. Novo A/S is a private limited liability company fully owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Besides being the majority shareholder in Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S, Novo A/S provides seed and venture capital to development stage companies within life science and biotechnology, as well as manages a broad portfolio of financial assets. For further information visit www.novo.dk
For further information please contact:
Thomas Kirkegaard Jensen, Ph.D., Orphazyme CEO, +45 40532454 (mobile),TKJ@Orphazyme.com
Bobby Soni, Ph.D, Associate Novo Seeds, +4544423137,BYGS@Novo.dk