Lys Therapeutics, based in Lyon and Caen, France, has raised more than €25 million since its 2021 founding.
The financing package includes a grant of more than $5 million from The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, with additional support from Bpifrance, France 2030 and private investors.
The proceeds are intended to support completion of regulatory studies, manufacturing readiness and the clinical entry of LYS241 through a biomarker-rich Phase 1a/1b program that the company expects will include healthy volunteer cohorts and indication-specific patient cohorts to assess safety, pharmacokinetics and early proof-of-biology signals.
LYS241 is described by the company as a fully humanized, Fc-silent IgG1 monoclonal antibody designed to selectively block the pathological interaction between tissue plasminogen activator and NMDA receptors while preserving physiological receptor function.
The company positions the candidate to address blood-brain barrier dysfunction, neuroinflammation and excitotoxicity across Parkinson’s disease, synucleinopathies including multiple system atrophy, and ischemic stroke, and to be developed as a standalone or adjunctive therapy to improve reperfusion outcomes in stroke.
