FoldRx banks $29M for neurodegenerative drug application

Cambridge, MA-based FoldRx has rounded up $29 million in new funding, with new investors Novo Ventures and Morgenthaler Ventures joining Healthcare Ventures, Fidelity Biosciences, TPG Biotechnology, Alta Partners, and Novartis Venture Funds to back the developer. The money will be used to fund the advancement of tafamidis, a new neurodegenerative disease therapy, through a marketing application later this year as well as a commercial launch.

"This financing is recognition of the strength of our tafamidis program and will allow us to continue advancing the development of tafamidis. We anticipate filing marketing applications in the second half of 2010," said Richard Labaudinière, Ph.D., president and CEO of FoldRx. "With the addition of two top-tier venture firms to our already strong investor base, we believe we now have access to the resources necessary to commercialize tafamidis and build FoldRx into an independent, orphan-disease focused company."

FoldRx's lead program is focused on the treatment of TTR amyloid polyneuropathy (ATTR-PN) and a second tafamidis program has pushed through Phase II on TTR amyloid cardiomyopathy, which leads to heart failure.

Last summer FoldRx touted the results of a II/III trial of tafamidis-calling it the "first disease-modifying agent targeting the underlying cause of a human amyloid disease." The research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, and The Lita Annenberg Hazen Foundation.

- here's the FoldRX release for more info