Harness Therapeutics Raises Additional £4M in Funding
Summary
Backers included SV Health Investors, investing out of The Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF) and Takeda Ventures. The company intends to use the funds to advance its lead programme targeting FAN1 nuclease in Huntington’s Disease (HD) towards the clinic. Focusing on neurodegeneration targets with strong biology and genetic validation, it utilises its understanding of RNA biology and post-transcriptional regulation to enable drugging with oligonucleotide based drugs to upregulate protein expression. Harness Therapeutics was originally established as Transine Therapeutics in 2020 by life science investors Takeda Ventures and The Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF), with Epidarex Capital joining as an investor in 2022. the company initially focussed on advancing its IncRNA “SINEUP” platform for upregulation of protein expression and the investment committed through this period has enabled Harness to build deep RNA biology alongside bespoke analytical capabilities. From this work, the company has gained insights into the regulation of therapeutic targets and broadened its oligonucleotide based toolset for physiological protein upregulation.