ALS-focused Trace Neuroscience launches

Trace Neuroscience, founded in January, has launched with $101 million raised in a series A financing round to advance its antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) therapy for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a debilitating neurodegenerative disease. The fundraising, led by Third Rock Ventures with participation from Atlas Venture, GV, and RA Capital Management, will help kick-start clinical trials, says Eric Green, founder and CEO of Trace Neuroscience. Its therapy aims to restore a protein, UNC13A, which is often low or absent in ALS patients and has been linked to the progression of the disease. Green previously cofounded Maze Therapeutics, which aims to create precision medicines based on human genetic data. When shortlisting diseases with the most significant impact on patients, Green put ALS at the top. Aaron Gitler, a professor at the Stanford School of Medicine studying neurodegenerative conditions, including ALS, became one of Maze’s scientific cofounders. In 2020, Gitler, who was analyzing