Merck Serono has announced the launch of a new spin-off company called Asceneuron, which will develop therapies for Alzheimer’s disease and Tau protein-related pathologies.
Francois Naef, chairman of the board of directors of Merck Serono
The new company will receive five million euros (4.02 million pounds) in seed funding from Merck Serono and will work to advancing its parent company’s preclinical programmes in this field towards clinical testing as rapidly as possible.
Its business leaders will be Dirk Beher, Christoph Wiessner and Frank Armstrong, with eight current Merck Serono employees to transfer across in order to spearhead the research efforts.
Francois Naef, chairman of the board of directors of Merck Serono, said: “This new company creation around Merck Serono’s valuable assets in neurodegenerative diseases represents a unique opportunity to continue developing highly-needed therapies in an area that is outside the company’s current focus.”
This is the third spin-off organisation to be created through Merck Serono’s Entrepreneur Partnership Program, which was launched in April 2012.
The first was the Parkinson’s disease-focused Prexton Therapeutics, which debuted in July, followed by the introduction of biomarker research business Quartz Bio last month.
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