Andera Partners – a leading private equity player – through its biotech and medtech activity Andera Life Sciences, is leading the €9 million Series A round of Exciva GmbH, a German clinical biotech company developing a novel therapeutic compound for the treatment of behavioral and psychological symptoms in Alzheimer’s patients. LBBW Venture Capital and Cure 8 are participating in this first round.

This first round of financing will help Exciva GmbH develop its lead compound to completion of Phase I. The compound is a combination of two clinically validated products that have demonstrated efficacy in the central nervous system (CNS).

François Conquet, CEO of Exciva said: « I am very happy that we were able to convey the relevance of our approach and I would like to thank the investors for their support,” said Francois Conquet, CEO of Exciva. “Our lead candidate combines two compounds which have separately demonstrated a safety profile as well as an efficient activity in patients living with behavioral conditions. With this investment, we can look forward to advancing this product, the combination of these two compounds, through to the start of Phase II.»

Raphaël Wisniewski, partner at Andera Partners, commented: « Exciva GmbH is taking a uniquely promising approach to addressing symptoms in Alzheimer’s disease; a condition which still has huge unmet medical needs ».

Sofia Ioannidou, partner at Andera Partners, added: « Andera has been supporting Exciva from its foundation and we are excited about the progress the program has made so far. These proceeds will be used to complete Phase I with the goal of starting Phase II next year».

The Exciva team combines the best research and development expertise in the CNS field. Each member has a successful background in the pharma industry. «The caliber of the team and its collective scientific and industry expertise will make a huge impact on developing commercial products in the field of Alzheimer’s disease », said Stefanie Wojciech investment manager at LBBW Venture Capital.

The board of directors is composed of: Raphaël Wisniewski (chairman) and Sofia Ioannidou, partners at Andera, Stefanie Wojciech, investment manager at LBBW Venture Capital GmbH, and Vikram Sudarsan CEO of Engrail Therapeutics.