Progentos Therapeutics raises $65 million for multiple sclerosis

Progentos Therapeutics has raised $65 million in a series A financing round. It will use the funds to further develop small molecules to treat multiple sclerosis (MS) and start proof-of-concept studies in humans, as well as widen its scope to treat other degenerative diseases. MS progresses when myelin, a protective coating on neuronal axons, is destroyed. Progentos’s molecules aim to treat the condition by reestablishing axonal myelin sheaths. The firm says its molecules outperform competitors’ in stimulating the regeneration and differentiation of oligodendrocytes, cells that produce myelin.