Axial Therapeutics has stepped back into the spotlight, emerging after almost two years of silence with a new name, focus and financing.
Two years ago, the biotech was closing in on data from a phase 2b trial that was testing its lead asset in irritability associated with autism. Axial never publicized its topline clinical data, which were due in the first quarter of 2024, and went quiet after disclosing its participation in investor conferences at the start of last year.
Now, the company has broken cover with an announcement Tuesday to reveal a new name—Vertero Therapeutics—and a new direction.
Vertero said in a statement that the new identity reflects its mission “to transform the perception and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases to delay progression and preserve quality of life for patients as long as possible.”
A syndicate of investors including, OneVentures and Seventure, is bankrolling Vertero’s plans, providing $20 million in series D funding to support a pipeline led by the Parkinson’s disease candidate VT-5006.
The gut-selective small molecule is designed to slow disease onset and progression by targeting CsgA. Vertero’s focus on CsgA reflects evidence that the microbial amyloid drives alpha-synuclein aggregation and inflammation. A study run by the biotech’s co-founder and other researchers linked a gut-restricted amyloid inhibitor to improved behavior and pathology in mice.
The company formerly known as Axial had an amyloid inhibitor in its pipeline codenamed AX-5006, but the autism candidate was its lead program.
At Vertero, the near-term focus is on starting a phase 1 trial of the amyloid inhibitor VT-5006 this year. The new funding round is intended to take the program through phase 1b and into preparations for phase 2. Vertero expects to have enough cash left over to support drug discovery and pipeline expansion.