11 March, 2024
aptaTargets is one of the 42 companies selected in Europe, out of more than a thousand, to receive support from the EIC Accelerator program of the European Innovation Council (EIC).
EIC Accelerator is a funding programme under Horizon Europe that offers support to start-ups and SMEs that have a game changing product, service or business model that could create new markets or disrupt existing ones in Europe and even worldwide, and have the ambition and commitment to scale up.
“After having passed a highly competitive process, we are very pleased to announce that the European Commission has assessed the potential of ApTOLL as an innovative neuroprotectant to reduce brain damage in Acute Ischemic Stroke (AIS) in combination with endovascular therapy (EVT)” states David Segarra, CEO and Co-Founder of aptaTargets.
The EIC Accelerator committee has approved a grant for €2.5 million to aptaTargets. This funding comes at a key time to be able to initiate Phase 2b clinical trials in patients with AIS in 2024.
ApTOLL is a first-in-class drug that acts on the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) with high specificity, blocking the inflammatory response that occurs after an ischemic stroke. In Phase 1b/2a clinical studies, it demonstrated a decrease in mortality from 18% to 5% compared to the placebo arm. In 2023 it was granted a PRIME designation from the European Medicines Agency.
aptaTargets has also recently received €4 million from the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, through a public-private consortium, and €1.9 million from the Community of Madrid.