Aptadel Therapeutics launches with a $2.1M in seed financing

Aptadel Therapeutics, a pre-clinical biomedical company focused on developing a RNA-based platform of targeted therapy delivery to treat cancer, has announced the closing of a $2.1M in seed financing.

Aptadel Therapeutics, founded by Dr Oscar Martinez-Tirado of the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), initially develops novel treatments to target pediatric translocation associated sarcomas.

The platform uses a specific aptamer against a key target in many types of tumors to deliver different therapeutic agents (siRNAs, miRNAs, chemotherapeutic drugs). For Ewing sarcoma we aim to deliver a specific siRNA against the fusion protein EWS/FLI1, oncogene responsible for the development of these tumors and a key target to treat them. The company is co-founded by Fundación Alba Pérez who brings a strong syndicate of private investors that validate Aptadel’s approach to develop novel therapies with the potential to treat multiples types of cancer but focusing on Ewing Sarcoma.

This round will allow Aptadel Therapeutics to move its lead candidate for Ewing Sarcoma to IND-enabling studies in 2022 and to complete discovery validation in a variety of tumor types.

Dr Oscar Martinez-Tirado, academic co-founder of Aptadel Therapeutics, commented: "This is a great opportunity to translate our academic knowledge to the clinical practice, not only for pediatric cancer but for a great variety of aggressive tumors”.

Rafael Pérez, founder of Fundación Alba Pérez, commented: "We are fully engaged in this project. Fundación Alba Pérez has provided key funding assistance for Aptadel Therapeutics. We are honored to help them as co-founders”.

Dr Marc Ramis-Castelltort, partner at Chasing Science and board member of Aptadel Therapeutics, commented: “We have built Aptadel to translate these exciting breakthroughs from Oscar’s research group into precision-based therapies that will help patients suffering from Ewing’s Sarcoma and other cancers”.