Chondrial launches to fight rare diseases

Chondrial Therapeutics has secured up to $23 million in its Series A funding round. Focusing on the treatment of rare mitochondrial diseases, the start-up has licensed a new therapy, CTI-1601, from Indiana University Research and Technology Corp. and Wake Forest University Health Sciences. CTI-1601 uses a carrier protein to deliver frataxin, a protein deficient in the degenerative neuromuscular disease Friedreich’s ataxia, to the mitochondria, where the protein becomes active. Chondrial will conduct R&D in its new lab at the Science Center in Philadelphia.