Ann Arbor’s Cerenis Therapeutics Gets $51.7M to Develop Drug for Cardiovascular Disease

Cerenis Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company based in Ann Arbor, MI, and Toulouse, France, has just received $51.7 million to continue stalking a killer.

The criminal in question is atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, and it’s the number-one cause of death in the developed world. Cerenis’ promising new weapon in the fight is a drug called CER-001, which is currently in Phase I clinical development to treat acute coronary syndrome, which is a general term that applies to a wide range of heart conditions. The new investment will enable Cerenis, along with manufacturing partner Groupe Novasep, to complete a phase II “proof of concept,” clinical trial, says Jean-Louis Dasseux, Cerenis president and CEO.

Cerenis’ drug is designed to reduce artery-choking plaques by mimicking HDL, the so-called good cholesterol. “We believe CER-001 is positioned to be the ‘first and best in class,” Dasseux told me via e-mail this morning, adding that the funds could be used to expand local operations. “Cerenis intends to stay in Ann Arbor and to continue to grow the organization to support company development,” he says.

Half of the new investment in Cerenis comes from the Fund for Strategic Investment, which is 51 percent owned by the French firm Caisse des Depots and 49 percent by the French state. The FSI takes minority stakes in French companies that it believes creates value and industrial competitiveness for the economy, Dasseux says.

The other half comes from Ann Arbor’s EDF Ventures, Sofinnova Partners, HealthCap, Alta Partners, TVM Capital, OrbiMed, and Daiwa Corporate Investment.

Dasseux was previously involved in cardiovascular disease research as vice president of chemistry and technology at Ann Arbor drug developer Esperion before it was acquired by Pfizer in 2003. Dasseux then went to France to continue his research into HDL therapies. Dasseux and other Esperion veterans founded Cerenis in 2005. The company has dual headquarters in Ann Arbor and Toulouse with about 12 employees in Michigan.

Dasseux says this just-raised $51.7 million is a first close and Cerenis intends to have a second one before the end of the year. The investment is one of the largest in a decade in Michigan.

Author: Howard Lovy

Howard Lovy is a veteran journalist who has focused primarily on technology, science and innovation during the past decade. In 2001, he helped launch Small Times Magazine, a nanotech publication based in Ann Arbor, MI, where he built the freelance team and worked closely with writers to set the tone and style for an emerging sector that had never before been covered from a business perspective. Lovy's work at Small Times, and on one of the first nanotechnology-themed blogs, helped him earn a reputation for making complex subjects understandable, interesting, and even entertaining for a broad audience. It also earned him the 2004 Prize in Communication from the Foresight Institute, a nanotech think tank. In his freelance work, Lovy covers nanotechnology in addition to technological innovation in Michigan with an emphasis on efforts to survive and retool in the state's post-automotive age. Lovy's work has appeared in many publications, including Wired News, Salon.com, the Wall Street Journal, The Detroit News, The Scientist, the Forbes/Wolfe Nanotech Report, Michigan Messenger, and the Ann Arbor Chronicle.