- Investment addresses the need for disease-modifying therapies targeting the root causes of fibrosis
- Funding will support the advancement of CCN family inhibitor TRX-44 into clinical trials for treatment of fibrotic conditions including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF)
- Novo Holdings and HealthCap co-created Tribune in 2020
COPENHAGEN, Denmark, March 26, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Novo Holdings today announced its participation in a €23 million Series A round for Tribune Therapeutics (‘Tribune’). The round was led by new investor LifeArc Ventures and joined by Novo Holdings, HealthCap, Innovestor’s Life Science Fund and Inven2 as well as new Series A investors Industrifonden and Investinor.
Tribune Therapeutics was co-founded in 2020 by the Seed Investments team of Novo Holdings and HealthCap Ventures to create broadly applicable disease-modifying therapies for fibrotic diseases by targeting downstream, tissue-agnostic gatekeepers of scar formation and tissue remodelling.
Through a Pioneer Innovator Grant, the Novo Nordisk Foundation – whose assets Novo Holdings manages – partially funded scientific discoveries at the Oslo University Hospital by Professor Håvard Attramadal and Ole J. Kaasbøll that led to Tribune’s formation. The Pioneer Innovator grant programme is designed to advance science-based discoveries in sustainability and health by funding experiments and activities that push ideas toward proof-of-concept and beyond, in line with Novo Nordisk Foundation’s vision of improving people’s health and the sustainability of society and the planet.
Tribune’s lead programme, TRX-44, is currently in development for the treatment of fibrotic conditions including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). TRX-44 prevents scar formation by mimicking the structure and function of CCN5. CCN5 is an endogenous protein that naturally blocks the pro-fibrotic effects of other CCN family members, including CTGF/CCN2 and WISP1/CCN4, on multiple cell types contributing to fibrotic pathology.
João Ribas, PhD, Principal of Novo Holdings, said: “Tribune’s scientific founders have discovered key insights into the mechanism of action of CCNs, leading to an elegant and powerful approach to harness the biology of CCNs to shut down a key pro-fibrotic pathway. The novel path being advanced by Tribune holds potential for meaningfully impacting the treatment of multiple devastating and often terminal fibrotic indications.”
Georg Vo Beiske, PharmD, Tribune Chief Executive Officer and HealthCap Venture Partner, said: “Tribune’s foundational science has far-reaching therapeutic potential, and Novo Holdings has been a great partner in bringing the company to fruition through its early support and extended network. As we advance toward the clinic, having the backing of such a strong investor group increases our confidence in our innovative approach to treat fibrotic diseases.”
About Tribune Therapeutics
Tribune Therapeutics is a biotechnology company advancing novel medicines to treat fibrosis, regardless of the cause, tissue or diagnosis. The company was founded on groundbreaking structural insights into the CCN family of proteins, key drivers of scar formation that have historically been difficult to comprehensively target. Tribune is advancing multiple programs, including CCN5 mimic TRX-44. For more information, visit www.tribunetx.com/ or follow us on LinkedIn.
About Novo Holdings A/S
Novo Holdings is a holding and investment company that is responsible for managing the assets and the wealth of the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The purpose of Novo Holdings is to improve people’s health and the sustainability of society and the planet by generating attractive long-term returns on the assets of the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Novo Holdings is the controlling shareholder of Novo Nordisk A/S and Novonesis A/S (Novozymes A/S) and manages an investment portfolio with a long-term return perspective. In addition to managing a broad portfolio of equities, bonds, real estate, infrastructure and private equity assets, Novo Holdings is a world-leading life sciences investor. Through its Seed, Venture, Growth, Asia, Planetary Health and Principal Investments teams, Novo Holdings invests in life science companies at all stages of development. As of year-end 2023, Novo Holdings had total assets of EUR 149 billion. www.novoholdings.dk
About the Novo Nordisk Foundation
Established in Denmark in 1924, the Novo Nordisk Foundation is an enterprise foundation with philanthropic objectives. The vision of the Foundation is to improve people’s health and the sustainability of society and the planet. The Foundation’s mission is to progress research and innovation in the prevention and treatment of cardiometabolic and infectious diseases as well as to advance knowledge and solutions to support a green transformation of society.
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