A new therapeutics company is getting started by three UMass Medical School researchers with $110 million in funding and the use of technology licensed from the Worcester school.
At the heart of the new Boston company, Atalanta Therapeutics, is a proprietary technology licensed by UMass Medical School, which is a part-founder along with three of its researchers: Anastasia Khvorova, Craig Mello and Neil Aronin. They re using a proprietary technology licensed by the medical school called branched siRNA, an advancement in gene capabilities, that aims to treat neurodegenerative diseases.
UMass Medical School s co-founders are among three of its top researchers, Atalanta said.
Atalanta Therapeutics founded by UMass Medical School and three faculty members
Biotech launches with $110 million to pioneer RNA therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases By Mark L. Shelton January 12, 2021
Atalanta Therapeutics, a biotech founded by UMass Medical School and three faculty research scientists to pioneer treatment options for neurodegenerative diseases, has launched with financing by venture capital fund F-Prime Capital and strategic collaborations with Biogen and Genentech.
Atalanta’s technology, called branched siRNA and licensed from UMass Medical School, is based on more than 30 years of research at the Medical School in the field of RNA biology and its clinical applications. Branched siRNA is a novel oligonucleotide architecture that has shown potent ability to silence gene expression in the central nervous system and can be applied across multiple neurodegenerative diseases.