BRIEF — Aarhus University spinout raises $47 million series A funding

NMD Pharma, a privately-held biotech company focused on treating neuromuscular disorders, has announced a series A financing round of $47 million led by INKEF Capital and Roche Venture Fund. They join existing investors Novo Seeds and Lundbeckfonden Emerge.

Led by CEO Thomas Holm Pedersen, an assistant professor at Aarhus University, NMD Pharma was founded on more than 15 years of muscle physiology research with focus on regulation of skeletal muscle excitability under physical activity.

“We are extremely pleased with the commitment of the strong investor syndicate for the series A and now look forward to accelerate the development of the two programs," Mr Pedersen said in a statement. "The investment is based on a solid data package obtained during the Seed investment periods. This was obtained through the very hard work by the whole NMD Team".

Lucas de Breed, a director at INKEF Capital, said “We have been very impressed by NMD’s depth of expertise on ClC-1 in skeletal muscle function, their unique electrophysiological screening pipeline to identify novel ClC-1 inhibitors, and the effectiveness of their development strategy, as complemented by leading clinical research groups in the Netherlands.

"We believe that with this funding round, NMD is well positioned to demonstrate significant impact on the unmet need of patients suffering from neuromuscular diseases and address other clinical opportunities to regain muscle strength.”

The success of this fundraiser will enable the company to develop two programs through proof-of-concept targeting orphan neuromuscular disorders as well as a critical care indications characterized by muscle weakness due to neuromuscular transmission deficits.