Vima Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on oral therapies for movement disorders, has launched with a $60 million Series A financing led by Atlas Venture, with participation from Access Industries and Canaan.
Vima aims to drive a new era of treatment for movement disorders that targets the underlying biology. And dystonia occurs in both adults and children and shares underlying biology with other movement disorders, which together affect over one million people in the United States alone. It is a chronic, disabling condition characterized by involuntary muscle contractions in one or more parts of the body.
Isolated dystonia, where dystonia is the primary neurological symptom, affects 100,000+ people in the United States. Vima’s lead candidate, VIM0423, is designed to target muscarinic cholinergic receptors in the brain with improved pharmacology, efficacy, and safety. And drugs that target muscarinic receptors are clinically used in movement disorders but are markedly limited by poor tolerability, which results in reduced efficacy.
VIM0423: With a patient-focused approach, and highly experienced leadership team, Vima is advancing VIM0423, a potential first-in-class oral therapy for dystonia that targets the underlying cause in the central nervous system.
Executive Officers
These are the company’s executive officers
1.) Bernard Ravina, MD, MS, founder and chief executive officer, has over 25 years of drug development experience in government, academia, and industry, and was a practicing neurologist specializing in movement disorders. He has served in leadership positions at Biogen, Voyager Therapeutics, and Praxis Medicines.
2.) Judith Dunn, PhD, president and head of R&D, has 30+ years of drug development experience and has held leadership roles in biotech and pharma, including global head of clinical development at Roche.
3.) Jessica Fees, chief financial officer, brings over 20 years of finance and strategic leadership experience in the biotech industry. Prior to Vima, she served as chief financial officer at Surface Oncology.
4.) Ariel D. Jasie, JD, chief business officer and general counsel, has over 20 years of industry experience and has served as chief business officer and general counsel to multiple private biotech companies.
5.) Tushar Misra, PhD, chief technical officer, has been in the pharmaceutical industry for over 30 years and has worked across the entire value chain from R&D to Commercialization, with leadership roles at many companies, including Wyeth, Sepracor, and Takeda.
KEY QUOTES:
“Currently, there are no existing treatments that address the root cause of dystonia, leaving many patients to struggle with symptoms that severely impact their function and quality of life. As a neurologist, I have firsthand experience treating people with dystonia and its devastating consequences, witnessing the significant need for a safe and effective oral treatment. With deep expertise and a strong commitment to the dystonia community, our team is focused on delivering an effective oral therapy that helps every patient with dystonia regain control of their movement.”
Bernard Ravina, MD, MS, founder and chief executive officer of Vima
“From its inception as a seed investment in Atlas’ incubator, Vima was formed with a singular focus: to change the lives of patients with dystonia. Having assembled an exceptional team of drug developers, Dr. Ravina and our head of R&D, Dr. Judith Dunn, are now bringing to the clinic a potential first-in-class therapy with the potential to be an impactful new medicine.”
David Grayzel, MD, co-founder and chair of Vima’s board of directors, and partner at Atlas Venture
