Innervace

Innervace, a regenerative medicine company founded in 2018, is pioneering a technology to develop implantable, biofabricated neural pathways to restore brain circuitry lost to neurodegenerative disorders. The company's core technology originated from the research of Dr. D. Kacy Cullen, an associate professor of neurosurgery, and Dr. Douglas Smith, Director of the Center for Brain Injury and Repair, at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine. Their work focused on creating anatomically-inspired living tissue pathways to directly replace neural connections.

The company's lead program targets Parkinson's disease by aiming to reconstruct the nigrostriatal pathway, a critical dopamine circuit that degenerates in patients. Unlike traditional cell therapies that implant dopamine-producing neurons directly into the striatum to increase dopamine levels, Innervace's approach is to rebuild the entire lost pathway. This proprietary method involves implanting living neurons encased in biodegradable materials, which are designed to integrate with the existing neuroanatomy and re-establish controlled dopamine release. The platform allows for customization in length, cell type, and dosage, delivered through minimally invasive stereotaxic procedures.

In September 2022, Innervace announced a significant milestone, securing up to $40 million in a Series A financing round. The funding was led by Deerfield Management, with participation from founding investor IP Group, Inc., as well as Penn Medicine, WARF Ventures, and BioAdvance. This capital is intended to accelerate the development of its lead program for Parkinson's disease. The financing also enables the licensing of a specific A9 dopaminergic neuron phenotype, the primary cell type lost in Parkinson's, from a research collaboration between UC San Diego and Deerfield. Headquartered in New York City, Innervace is a resident of Cure®, a healthcare innovation campus.

Keywords: regenerative medicine, neurodegenerative disorders, Parkinson's disease, cell therapy, biofabricated neural pathway, brain circuitry restoration, nigrostriatal pathway, dopamine neurons, tissue engineering, implantable therapeutics, neuro-regenerative therapies, stereotaxic surgery, A9 dopaminergic neurons, neuro-restoration, brain repair, regenerative therapy, neuronal circuitry, University of Pennsylvania spin-out, preclinical stage biotechnology, neurological disease treatment