The success story of biotech company NMD Pharma continues with another significant capital raise and the establishment of a US subsidiary

And the company is well on its way. For the second time in three years, NMD Pharma has managed to raise EUR 35 million in funding. In addition to existing investors Capnova, Lundbeckfonden Emerge, Novo Holdings, Inkef Capital and Roche Venture, the Aarhus-based biotech company has welcomed the large French fund Jeito Capital on board.

In early May 2022, NMD Pharma also announced that the company will open a subsidiary in the US. Thomas Holm Pedersen, CEO and co-founder of NMD Pharma said: "Our expansion into the world's largest pharmaceutical market comes at an important time for our business as we look forward to the results of the Phase IIa study of our drug NMD 670 expected later this year. This was a logical next step to support our growth, enabling us to strengthen and build on existing partnerships in the US to expand our pipeline in rare neuromuscular diseases."

NMD Pharma researches methods to strengthen the relationship between nerve and muscle to restore muscle strength in patients with muscle weakness. The biotech company has since discovered several rare muscle diseases where the treatment can be beneficial. The aim is to develop a new drug for patients with neuromuscular diseases, which can affect the ability to speak, walk or control the eyes, for example.

Biotech anchored in a cluster in INCUBA is rising

In recent years, an entire cluster of biotech companies has emerged in and around Aarhus, such as Draupnir.bio, STipe Therapeutics, Muna Therapeutics, and NMD Pharma itself. They are all alive and well with several Series A investments behind them. NMD Pharma has been part of the INCUBA environment in Skejby since May 2020, where both animal facilities and laboratories have been built to suit the biotech company's needs - all with the goal of intensifying innovation and the development of new drugs.

"It's great that we have the opportunity to bring everything together here, so we don't have to rely on bringing animals from the university or elsewhere, for example. In addition, INCUBA offered us a high degree of flexibility and adaptation of the framework to our needs, so we were able to maintain the same level of activity and create data during the corona pandemic. We would not have been able to do that if we had stayed at the university. And this is the basis for building and expanding the company," says CEO and co-founder Thomas Holm Pedersen and adds:

"Finally, we have established a collaboration with another INCUBA company, the research laboratory BioXpedia, which has only come about because we are part of INCUBA." BioXpedia performs bioanalytical measurements for us, which is extremely practical as it shortens the turnaround time a lot. At the same time, it creates fertile ground for future collaborations. This is a unique collaboration across INCUBA's community in Skejby.

Big, but certainly realistic visions

The sunshine story of the biotech company, which originated from Thomas Holm Pedersen's PhD studies at Aarhus University, is not ready to stop growing anytime soon:

"From once being just scientists, we now have a broad team of competencies ranging from animal keepers for our laboratory animal facilities to pharmaceutical specialists working on developing our drug in our own laboratories," says Thomas Holm Pedersen.

But it doesn't stop here, because NMD Pharma wants to be a world leader: "The vision is that we want to be a world-leading biotech company within neuromuscular diseases," says Thomas Holm Pedersen and adds: "And I actually think we have a very good chance of achieving this. Partly because we have a strong biotech environment in Aarhus, which stands on the shoulders of old, basic research, and partly because we have the Department of Neurology just across the road, which has a know-how in neurophysiology that not many others in the world have. Last but not least, Denmark has a strong tradition in pharma, which fortunately is also becoming an increasingly important area of focus."

In five years, CEO Thomas Holm Pedersen predicts that NMD Pharma could be a listed company with the first drug on the market, while in 10 years he believes that NMD Pharma will be both a large and established company within neuromuscular diseases.

Follow along on the sidelines and read more about NMD Pharma here