Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Locana Wins $550,000 Grant

San Diego-based gene therapy startup Locana has just received $550,000 in a grant, from the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA), according to the MDA. The award will go to advance Locana's development program for treating mytonic dystrophy (DM). According to the MDA, the grant came from its MDA Venture Philanthropy (MVP) grant program, which specifically funds drug development, discovery and clinical application of treatments and cures for neuromuscular disorders. The MDA said those grants go to for-profit, not-for-profit companies, and academics working on developing therapeutics. The Muscular Dystrophy Association grant follows a recent, $55M funding round for Locana, which it raised in May; that funding came from ARCH Venture Partners, Temasek, Lightstone Ventures, UCB Ventures and GV (formerly Google Ventures).