Forbion leads $35M Series B for ARMGO Pharma

Amsterdam, The Netherlands – 20th December 2021 – Forbion, a leading European life sciences venture capital firm, today announces that it has led a $35M series B financing in ARMGO Pharma Inc (“ARMGO”), a leading novel small molecule therapeutics company developing treatments for cardiac, musculoskeletal, and neurological disorders. Proceeds will be used for further clinical development of its lead asset, ARM210, a small molecule for the treatment of catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT) as well as other cardiac and skeletal muscle indications.

Forbion led the financing and was joined by life science VC investors Pontifax and Kurma Partners. Dr. Geert-Jan Mulder, Managing Director at Forbion, and Dr. Dmitrij Hristodorov, Partner at Forbion, will join the ARMGO Board of Directors as a result of the financing. Dr. Mulder has more than 20 years of experience in the biotech industry including deep expertise in clinical development. Before joining Forbion in 2020, Dr. Hristodorov was a Senior Director of Global Business Development & Licensing at Bayer Pharma where he was responsible for Cardiovascular and Ophthalmology Franchises.

The investment will fund Phase 2 clinical studies to evaluate ARM210 for the treatment of CPVT, a rare form of ventricular tachycardia and sudden death caused by mutations in the ryanodine receptor 2 (RyR2) which controls Ca2+ homeostasis in cells. Based on the work of ARMGO’s founder, Professor Andrew Marks from Colombia University, it is known that mutated RyR2 channels become leaky and lead to a severe form of ventricular arrhythmia. The current cornerstone therapy for CPVT is beta-blockers that reduce heart rate but do not repair the leaky channels that cause the arrythmia seen in most cases of CPVT. Beta-blockers leave a significant proportion of patients with residual arrhythmic burden that increases the risk for sudden cardiac death. Regardless of their efficacy, beta-blockers also cause strong side effects that significantly reduce the quality of life of these patients. To address both unmet needs, ARM210, a potentially disease-modifying, once daily oral pill that repairs leaky RyR2 channels and restores physiological Ca2+ homeostasis, will be tested in CPVT patients.

ARMGO will initially aim to develop ARM210 in CPVT to provide clinical proof-of-concept for the mechanism of action. If positive results are received, this will further de-risk the development of ARM210 in other diseases that are driven by dysregulated Ca2+ homeostasis. These studies will build on an ARM210 Phase 1b trial in patients with mutations in RyR1 (RyR1 related myopathy) currently ongoing at the National Institute of Health in the US.

Gene Marcantonio MD PhD, President and Chief Medical Officer of ARMGO, commented:
“We are pleased to have Forbion leading this financing round alongside Pontifax and Kurma Partners. They are all experienced healthcare investors that see the potential of ARMGO’s approach to provide disease-modifying treatments for patients by restoring the physiological Ca2+ homeostasis in affected tissues. We are excited to drive development of ARM210 in multiple indications and for the potential to reach significant milestone achievements within the next two years.”

Geert-Jan Mulder, Managing Partner at Forbion, added: "I am excited to join ARMGO’s board and to be supporting the company on its journey to develop novel, well-tolerated therapeutics that may increase the quality of life of many patients. ARMGO has done an excellent job in de-risking ARM210 through preclinical and early clinical development activities and it is now ready to be tested in patients.”

Dmitrij Hristodorov, Partner at Forbion, concluded: “We are pleased to lead this financing round and look forward to actively work together with Gene Marcantonio in restarting and building ARMGO to drive clinical value inflection in patients over the coming years”.

-Ends-

For more information please contact:

Media Enquiries
Laura Asbjornsen, Head of Communications
Email: laura.asbjornsen@forbion.com
Tel: +31 (0)35 699 30 00

Consilium Strategic Communications
Ashley Tapp, Sue Charles
Email: forbion@consilium-comms.com
Tel: +44 (0)20 3709 5700

Notes to Editor

About Forbion
Forbion is a dedicated life sciences venture capital firm with offices in The Netherlands, Germany and Singapore. Forbion invests in life sciences companies that are active in the (bio-) pharmaceutical space. Forbion manages well over EUR 1.8 billion across multiple fund strategies that cover all stages of (bio-) pharmaceutical drug development. Forbion’s current team consists of 20 life sciences investment professionals that have built an impressive performance track record since the late nineties with successful investments in over 80 companies. The firm is a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment. Besides financial objectives, Forbion selects investments that will positively affect the health and well-being of patients. Its investors include the EIF, through its European Recovery Programme (ERP), LfA, Dutch Venture Initiative (DVI), AMUF and EFSI facilities and KfW Capital through the Programme, “ERP – Venture Capital Fonds investments”. Forbion operates a joint venture with BGV, the manager of seed and early-stage funds, especially focused on Benelux and Germany.

For more information, please visit: www.forbion.com

About ARMGO Pharma Inc
ARMGO Pharma Inc., is a privately held biopharmaceutical company dedicated to applying original, targeted science to the discovery and development of novel small-molecule therapeutics to treat debilitating cardiac, musculoskeletal, and neurological disorders.

The company's proprietary drugs, known as Rycals®, are a new class of oral agents that repair calcium leaks through the RyR, which is located on the sarcoplasmic/endoplasmic reticulum of the cell. ARMGO Pharma has been awarded an exclusive, worldwide license from Columbia University for its RyR technology based on the research of founding scientist Andrew R. Marks, M.D.

For further information please email: info@armgo.com

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