Exciva: German Biotech Secures €51 Million for Alzheimer’s Drug Development

Exciva, a Heidelberg-based biopharmaceutical company developing novel active ingredients to treat neuropsychiatric disorders, has completed a Series B funding round worth €51 million, reports EU-Startups. Founded in 2016 by Anton Bespalov, Hans Moebius, and Rao Vepachedu, the company aims to treat neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer’s dementia and other brain diseases.

Exciva Treats Agitation in Alzheimer’s Dementia

Exciva is developing Deraphan, a combination of two active ingredients that act on the central nervous system. It is intended to treat agitation in patients with Alzheimer’s dementia. Behavioral and psychological symptoms of Alzheimer’s dementia can be severe and place a significant burden on caregivers. These include agitation, aggression, sleep disturbances, irritability, depression, anxiety, and hallucinations. This problem could become increasingly serious as society ages. Currently, few medications are available to treat these symptoms. Exciva aims to advance the treatment of such symptoms with its active ingredients.

Gimv and EQT Life Sciences co-led the current funding round. Additional participants included new investors Fountain Healthcare Partners, LifeArc Ventures, Carma Fund, and Modi Ventures, as well as existing investors Andera Partners and LBBW.

Fresh Capital for Phase 2 Study

“We are very pleased that we were able to secure funding from both existing and new investors. This confirms that our product is very promising,” says François Conquet, CEO of Exciva. The new proceeds will primarily be used to finance a Phase 2 study. This study will investigate the therapeutic potential of Deraphan for treating agitation in patients with Alzheimer’s. The clinical trial will take place in Europe, the United States, and Canada.

“If the Phase 2 study results are positive, this would be a significant advance for symptomatic treatment of patients with Alzheimer’s disease,” says Conquet. A Phase 1 study with Deraphan was already successful and reportedly demonstrated that the combination is safe and well tolerated.

“Exciva’s therapy for agitation in Alzheimer’s is highly differentiated and addresses significant shortcomings of current standard treatment and other products in development,” comments Andreas Jurgeit, partner at Gimv. “We look forward to collaborating with the Exciva team, which has decades of experience in developing neuropsychiatric medications, including approved therapies, to transform the treatment of this challenging aspect of dementia.”