952,000 euros for the IGTP Spin-Off Biointaxis to develop gene therapy for Friedriech’s ataxia

Biointaxis, spin-off company from the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP) has closed a financing round of 952,000 euros on the Capital Cell Platform. The company will use the investment to advance the pre-clinical research for their treatment for Friedriech's ataxia, a rare progressive degenerative disease. The studies aim to validate the safety of their treatment.

To date the company has raised two million euros from the la Caixa Foundation and the Centre for Industrial Technology Development (CDTI).

BTX-101, the candidate substance developed by Biointaxis is based on an adeno-associated virus (AAV), has been shown to be effective in preventing, slowing and reversing the neurological and cardiac deficits associated with the disease in mouse models.

The company was founded in 20218 by Antoni Matilla-Dueñas and Ivelisse Sánchez, joint group leaders of the Neurogenetics Group at the IGTP. "We have been working with ataxia patients for years; their insistence on the search for a treatment was what motivated us to form the company," they explain.