The Bordeaux Biotech TreeFrog Therapeutics takes a strategic step by obtaining funding of 30 million euros from the European Investment Bank (BEI). Particularity of this operation, the use of clean quasi-laundry, a hybrid mechanism still rare in the world of biotechnologies. This support will allow society to launch its first human clinical trials in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease.
The company, founded in 2018, intends to accelerate the passage of cellular therapy on an industrial scale. From induced pluripotent stem cells, TreeFrog manages to produce brain microtisses that restore motor functions, in particular by secreting dopamine.
This funding is part of a new model set up by the EIB to meet the specific needs of biotechs. Unlike a classic debt, the quasi-dead people allow increased financial flexibility without immediate dilution of capital. Funding is structured in three equal sections of 10 million euros. The first two have already been paid. The third will depend on intermediate results from the current tests. TreeFrog plans to file a clinical trial request file on humans by 2026.
This lifting strengthens a trajectory already marked by structuring partnerships, in particular with Vertex Pharmaceuticals, which had acquired in 2023 the world license in C-Stem technology in TreeFrog for a program in type 1 diabetes. The company, which employs 165 people, is already preparing a new fundraising and research of industrial partners.
