Somagenetix acquires 10 million Swiss francs

The Zurich-based biotech company Somagenetix was able to secure a sum of 10 million Swiss francs in a Series A financing. Investors such as Schroders Capital, Zürcher Kantonalbank and Verve Ventures are participating in the round led by Vi Partners, according to a press release.

Somagenetix intends to use the fresh capital to take the gene therapy SGX-001 developed by the company as a treatment for chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) into a clinical phase. The disease is a group of inherited genetic defects that impair the function of phagocytes (a type of white blood cell). The current treatment method is stem cell transplantation, but this is very limited due to the limited availability of suitable donors. The gene therapy developed by Somagenetix could offer an alternative here. The project is supported by the Wyss Zurich Translational Center.

"My team at the University of Zurich has developed a best-in-class lentiviral gene therapy platform for phagocytic diseases and also achieved successful preclinical validation of our approach to cure CGD. We look forward to initiating clinical use of SGX-001 during 2026," Janine Reichenbach, co-founder of Somagenetix, is quoted in the press release.

Parallel to the financing, Andrin Oswald is appointed CEO of Somagenetix. He is convinced that "the validation of our technology for the treatment of CGD will open up the potential of the approach for the treatment of patients with various severe diseases that are caused by phagocyte defects". Diego Braguglia, Managing Partner at Vi Partners, sees Vi Partners' investment in Somagenetix as an investment in the future of personalized medicine. "By applying cutting-edge lentiviral gene therapy technologies, Somagenetix is positioning itself at the forefront of an innovation that has the potential to improve the lives of patients worldwide." ce/ww