Finnish biopharmaceutical company Aplagon has secured a financing of €7m ($7.24m) to advance its heparin proteoglycan mimetic, APAC, to primarily support the initiation of a Phase IIa trial for peripheral arterial occlusive disease/chronic limb-threatening ischaemia (PAOD/CLTI) in Finland.
New investors, the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund and Fåhraeus Startup and Growth (FSG) led the funding round.
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Several investors in the country, including the Innovestor, the Gösta Serlachius Fine Arts Foundation, and the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation, also joined the funding round.
The funding will support not only the upcoming Phase IIa trial but also the completion of three ongoing trials, including a Phase I intravenous (IV) trial in healthy participants, a positron emission tomography (PET)-imaging trial with ⁸⁹ zirconium-labelled APAC in healthy and PAOD subjects, and a Phase I trial for arteriovenous fistula (AVF) maturation failure in 2025.
APAC exhibits antiplatelet and anticoagulant effects by targeting arterial injury sites. This provides sustained antithrombotic and anti-inflammatory action.
It is based on research conducted by Professor Riitta Lassila and associates at the Wihuri Research Institute in Finland.
Administered either locally or by IV infusion, APAC is meant for in-hospital usage. To date, more than 40 subjects have received the therapeutic with no safety concerns reported.
Aplagon CEO Aki Prihti said: “We’re delighted to secure this fund-raising and to bring on board FSG and EIC Fund as highly experienced VC investors from outside Finland. We have been making strong progress, and this financing enables us to complete the three international clinical trials we have been running with APAC and to start a Phase IIa study in PAOD/CLTI.
“Our innovative approach, using a heparin proteoglycan mimetic with targeting ability and retention on the vascular injury sites, has potential applications across a broad range of serious vascular diseases. We are looking forward to announcing clinical results from these trials in 2025 and 2026.”
Aplagon’s focus is on developing APAC as a therapeutic for thrombo-inflammatory conditions.
