First investment in potential medicine for stroke by FIRST-fund

The Utrecht-based company TargED Biopharmaceuticals received the first start-up funding from the FIRST fund, founded by the DCVA, RegMed XB and RVO. With the support of this new investment, the company can conduct follow-up research with their compound (Microlysis) that dissolves blood clots. The potential effect of this drug in strokes was discovered at UMC Utrecht.

TargED's research builds on the work of the CDL Research department of UMC Utrecht by scientists Coen Maas and Steven de Maat. With the new investment, TargED Biopharmaceuticals can perform the necessary follow-up research. TargED will receive a total of 1.3 million start-up funding. Besides the FIRST fund, Utrecht Health Seed Fund, Curie Capital and a public-private partnership with UMC Utrecht are also investors, supported by Health~Holland.

Follow-up steps after the research project

"The main goal of DCVA is that promising research results will lead to new treatments for patients as quickly as possible to reduce the disease burden caused by cardiovascular disease," said Wiek van Gilst, chair of the DCVA Project Management Team. "This is a beautiful concrete success of the taskforce Valorisation, that assists our researchers in the next steps after the research project."

About the cooperation and investment

FIRST stands for Fonds InvesteringsRijpe Starters and was founded earlier this year by DCVA and RegMed XB to bridge the gap between research and business. The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) supports the FIRST fund. Impact officers Margien Boels and Sol Cabrera are actively looking for opportunities within the DCVA/RegMed XB consortia and guide researchers through the next steps. Independent experts determine in which projects the FIRST fund invests.