Allegria Therapeutics secures USD 5.1 million seed extension financing

The financing round was led by ALK Abelló, with participation of HighLight Capital (HLC), Lichtsteiner Foundation and co-founding investor Forty51 Ventures.

The investment sets the stage for accelerated growth and value creation for ALLEGRIA. The funds will be used to progress its lead program towards pre-clinical candidates in support of nomination its first clinical candidate, while at the same time meaningfully advancing its discovery-stage programs.

ALLEGRIA was founded in 2023. Since its inception, the company has established a highly experienced specialist core team and advisory board. ALLEGRIA is progressing a differentiated portfolio of proprietary therapeutic approaches and targets to selectively modulate mast cells. By leveraging its unique insights and strategy, it has identified differentiated molecules that have great promise for the development of transformative therapies with first-in-class and best-in-disease potential for the treatment of patients with allergies and related inflammatory conditions.

“Precision approaches offer the ability to target defined cell types and pathways to disrupt the pathogenic biology driving disease with optimal efficacy and safety” says Maria van Dongen, Ph.D., Co-founder and CEO. “By identifying the relevant pathways and targets in uncontrolled mast cell activation, and leveraging our extensive experience in drug development, we aim to bring more and better options to patients across numerous allergic and inflammatory diseases. The current financing round importantly supports us in that journey.”

ALK-Abelló (ALK), a global specialty pharmaceutical company focused on allergy and allergic asthma, is providing ALLEGRIA with a strong partner in the allergy space.

Peter Sejer Andersen, Ph.D., Senior Vice President of Global Research and Drug Discovery at ALK says: “Every year hundreds of millions are impacted by allergy, affecting their daily lives and potentially causing life threatening situations. Building on our strong heritage, our mission is to help five million people every year by 2030 through innovative and more effective solutions.” He continues: “We have followed ALLEGRIA’s development and have been repeatedly impressed with their advancements and team, as well as their highly original strategy for novel treatments for allergic disorders. Our investment in ALLEGRIA is well aligned with our Allergy+ strategy.”

Further, Henry He, Chief Investment Officer at HLC notes: “We are excited to be able to invest in ALLEGRIA, as the company is an excellent example of first-in-class therapeutic innovations that could significantly reduce the burden of several chronic diseases. Growing scientific and clinical insight shows that mast cells play an important role in a range of human pathologies. We look forward to supporting the further development of ALLEGRIA.”

ALLEGRIA collaborates with world leading partners in fundamental mast-cell biology, drug discovery and preclinical drug evaluation including Prof. Dr. Martin Metz, Managing Director of the Institute for Allergology at Berlin’s Charité and Ap. Prof. Dr. Philipp Starkl, Principal Investigator at the Medical University of Vienna.

Following this seed extension round, Dr. Peter Sejer Andersen has joined ALLEGRIA’s Board as non-executive director, thereby further strengthening the company’s leadership team.