Biotech startup Prazer Therapeutics has completed a Series B funding round. The secured funds will be used for new drug research and development and global commercialization.
This investment round was led by Johnson & Johnson's corporate venture capital organization, Johnson & Johnson Innovation JJDC. Other participants in the investment include Premier Partners, K2 Investment, Mirae Asset Capital, Quad Asset Management, and STIC Ventures. Company K Partners, Kiwoom Investment, and Smilegate Investment, which invested in the Series A round, also participated as follow-up investors.
Founded in 2019, Prazer Therapeutics is a company developing drugs based on Targeted Protein Degradation (TPD) technology. It proved its technological capabilities by winning the Seoul BMS Innovation Challenge in 2022 and securing second place in the 2023 Japan Boehringer Ingelheim Prize.
According to the company description, while existing TPD technology utilizes specific E3 ubiquitin ligases to degrade proteins, Prazer Therapeutics' proprietary platform (SPiDEM™) can utilize various E3 ligases to achieve broader protein targeting. This allows the targeting of previously difficult-to-approach targets, such as protein aggregates and membrane proteins.
The company is building a new drug pipeline based on this platform technology and is developing new drugs for degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, as well as anti-cancer drugs. It is also a member of Johnson & Johnson JLABS, which has been selected as the leading operator of the global accelerator platform by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
A representative of Prazer Therapeutics noted, "With this investment, we plan to collaborate with domestic and global pharmaceutical companies to promote joint research and technology transfer while accelerating new drug development and commercialization."