Cajal launches with $96M to advance therapeutics for neurodegenerative disease

Biotechnology company Cajal Neuroscience announced its launch with $96 million Series A financing with plans to combine human genetics, functional genomics and advanced microscopy to expand drug discovery for neurodegenerative diseases.

According to a release from Cajal, financing was led by The Column Group and Lux Capital, with additional participation from Two Sigma Ventures, Bristol Myers Squibb, Evotec, Alexandria Venture Investments, Dolby Family Ventures and other investors.

The Seattle-based company, drawing on inspiration from pioneering neuroscientist Santiago Ramón y Cajal, said it seeks to transform the field of neurodegeneration by highlighting the mechanisms driving disease.

“We’ve all seen the challenges that face drug discovery in neurodegeneration,” Ignacio Muñoz-Sanjuán, PhD, CEO at Cajal, said in the release. “Cajal was founded to meet those challenges head-on by convening some of the best minds in the field and integrating a suite of cutting-edge technologies to identify and advance therapies for neurodegeneration in a completely new way.”

Per the release, Cajal’s platform combines integrative human genetics and multi-omics, multiplexed functional genomics and whole brain imaging, which the company will use to validate targets implicated in diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

“We want to get to the ground truth of neurodegenerative diseases,” Rob Hershberg, MD, PhD, co-founder and executive chairman of the board at Cajal, said in the release. “Cajal was started from grassroots, bringing together an incredible team of scientists, advisers and investors who share the long-term vision of building foundational systems to explore new pathways and targets and making a difference for patients suffering from neurodegeneration.”