Harness Therapeutics raises cash and appoints non-exec Chair

This brings on board pharmaceutical investor Ono Ventures Investment, joined by existing backers, Takeda Ventures, SV Health Investors’ Dementia Discovery Fund and Epidarex Capital.

Dr Preston brings over 30 years of experience in healthcare as a scientist, physician and management consultant and has been an investor in life sciences and biotechnology for more than 20 years. She is a Non-Executive Director at Oxford Biomedica and also sits on the Board of Oxford Nanopore Technologies and Aligos Therapeutics. She is a Senior Adviser to TPG Biotech.

Harness’ technology represents a new treatment paradigm for neurodegenerative diseases enabling a controlled increase of target protein levels (upregulation), allowing drugging of targets in complex pathways, which can address disease pathology at the source. This approach is unlocking the potential of well understood targets, which have previously been undruggable and could transform the course of these diseases.

The company’s lead programme, in Huntington’s Disease (HD), targets FAN1 nuclease, a protective protein with compelling genetics linking higher levels of FAN1 to delays in disease onset.

Harness aims to create a more effective treatment for HD by targeting the DNA-expansion process itself, rather than focusing on individual toxic products as previous approaches have done. This strategy slows the mechanism that drives multiple toxicities associated with HD with the aim of delaying disease onset and subsequent progression.

Preparations are underway for CTA/IND enabling studies to commence in 2025, with Phase I/II trial initiation planned for 2026. Harness continues to deliver strong scientific progress across its proprietary CNS upregulation platform and has initiated development of its second programme targeting nuclear import receptors for ALS and Alzheimer’s Disease. The company plans to initiate a third programme on an undisclosed target for Parkinson’s Disease in the first half of 2025.