Yumanity gets $45M for drug research

Feb. 11--A Cambridge pharmaceutical company has received $45 million in early stage financing to accelerate the discovery of new drugs for neuro­degenerative diseases.

Yumanity Therapeutics plans to use the funding to identify treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

"These proceeds will allow us to devote the resources­ necessary for our research efforts as we work to discover new drugs for these devastating illnesses," said Dr. Tony Coles, Yumanity's chairman and CEO. "We are strongly positioned to continue executing on the science, with the goal of helping the millions of people suffering from neuro­degenerative diseases."

Fidelity Management and Research Co. led the financing, with participation from Biogen, Sanofi-Genzyme BioVentures, Redmile Group, Alexandria Venture Investments and Dolby Family Ventures.

"Yumanity Therapeutics brings a skilled, passionate team and unique strategy to targeting the underlying protein pathology of neurodegenerative diseases," said Bernard Davitian, vice president and managing director of Sanofi-­Genzyme BioVentures. "We look forward to working together as investors with Yumanity Therapeutics to ... make headway against these historically challenging diseases that represent an area of significant medical need."

An estimated 55 million people worldwide suffer from neurodegenerative diseases, and no approved disease-modifying the­rapy is currently available. Global costs for treating these diseases are estimated at $818 billion and expected to grow to more than $1 trillion by 2030.

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