Nine million euros for GeneQuine Biotherapeutics

The money will be used to develop a gene therapy. The company already holds a European patent.

The Hamburg-based biotech start-up GeneQuine Biotherapeutics has closed its Series A financing round with 5.4 million euros. The company has also received a convertible loan of 3.6 million euros. The financing round is led by the US pharmaceutical company Pacira BioSciences. Other investors include High-Tech Gründerfonds, which has already invested in GeneQuine, as well as Noshaq and Samum Vermögensverwaltung. Pacira Biosciences and Samum are also providing convertible loans totaling 2.75 million euros. A further 900,000 euros will come in the form of subsidies from the Investment Bank of the State of Brandenburg.

GeneQuine intends to use the money to develop the drug GQ-303 for the treatment of osteoarthritis through to a Phase 1 clinical trial. "We will now use the capital efficiently to bring GQ-303 into the clinic and expand our gene therapy program for the treatment of disc degeneration," says Kilian Guse, CEO of GeneQuine.

GeneQuine Biotherapeutics was founded in 2012 and develops gene therapy-based drugs for the treatment of osteoarthritis. Last year, the Hamburg-based biotech company was granted the European patent for the drug GQ-303.