Jeito Capital leads €20 Million Investment in InnoSkel, a New Gene Therapy Company and leader in rare skeletal disorders

Jeito Capital leads €20 Million Investment in InnoSkel, a New Gene Therapy Company and leader in rare skeletal disorders

• Jeito’s third international investment in H2 2020, with deep and rapidly accelerating pipeline
• Therachon’s Founder, Elvire Gouze, launches latest new gene therapy company in her field of excellence
• €20 million Series A financing, sees Jeito co-investing again with Vida Ventures

Paris, France, 14 December 2020 – Jeito Capital (“Jeito”), a rapidly emerging independent investor dedicated to biotech and biopharma, today announces that it has led a €20 million Series A financing in InnoSkel, a newly launched pioneering platform biotechnology company developing therapies for rare and life-threatening skeletal diseases. Jeito co-led the financing in a high-quality syndicate with Vida Ventures and with additional support from The Turenne Group. InnoSkel becomes Jeito’s third investment in the past four months, following SparingVision and Neogene, and Jeito’s first backing of a female CEO, as part of its vision and mission.

Proceeds from the financing will be used to advance InnoSkel’s asset pipeline from its dedicated gene therapy platform. Notably, this includes a group of rare and life-threatening skeletal disorders collectively known as type 2 collagenopathies. InnoSkel’s lead asset focuses on the most severe of these disorders, a neonatal presenting skeletal disorder called Spondyloepiphyseal Dysplasia congenita (“SEDc”). SEDc is a rare genetic disease that results in short stature and skeletal abnormalities primarily affecting the spine and long bones of the arms and legs. It affects approximately 1 in 100,000 individuals, and there is currently no approved curative treatment with available therapeutic options focusing on clinical management, including multiple severe surgeries and multidisciplinary care.

InnoSkel is led by Elvire Gouze, a serial entrepreneur and expert in skeletal disorders, whose first successful venture TherAchon, a biotech company focusing on achondroplasia, a rare bone disease, was acquired during Phase 1 clinical development for $810m by Pfizer in 2019. 

Rafaèle Tordjman, Founder and CEO at Jeito, said: “The investment in InnoSkel is testament to our commitment to contribute to the development of both the French and European healthcare ecosystem and invest in platforms with several products and the potential to be market leaders in a field with high unmet needs. InnoSkel has made significant progress within an area of such unmet need and intends to provide innovative treatments for patients suffering from a vast array of pediatric skeletal diseases, in which currently there are no approved curative therapies. Additionally, we are pleased to be working with a team that has previously had such tremendous success in the field of skeletal diseases.

“Our latest investment is another great addition to Jeito’s international portfolio, demonstrating our continued strength in deal flow and ambition and dedication to backing female entrepreneurs. We are also delighted to again be investing with Vida Ventures.”

Elvire Gouze, InnoSkel’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer, said: “InnoSkel is committed to developing an innovative gene therapy platform that will allow the specific treatment of a wide variety of life-threatening skeletal diseases for which there are currently no curative therapies. The attraction of such distinguished investors like Jeito Capital and Vida Ventures indicates strong support of our science as well as our mission to deliver life altering therapies to patients with such unmet need.”

Rajul Jain, MD, Director of Vida Ventures, said: “We are very pleased to once again invest with Jeito in an innovative technology that has the potential to transform the treatment paradigm and deliver life-changing outcomes in an area of unmet medical need. We are impressed by Innoskel’s bold vision and are thrilled to support their outstanding management team as they advance their mission of developing gene therapies for patients with rare skeletal disorders.”

ENDS

About Jeito Capital
Jeito Capital is an international investment company with a patient benefit driven approach that focuses both on financing ground-breaking medical innovation and promoting positive societal impact. Jeito has a unique, long-term investment strategy, with the aim of providing continuity from clinical development to market access for breakthrough drugs with validated proofs of concept. This continuity is expressed both in the support provided to entrepreneurs by the Jeito Capital team and by the investment of significant capital to ensure the growth of companies, the acceleration towards commercialization and faster access to these major innovations.  Jeito Capital is based in Paris with a presence in Europe and the United States.  For more information, please visit www.jeito.life, on LinkedIn or follow on Twitter @Jeito_life.

About InnoSkel
InnoSkel is a pioneering platform biotechnology company developing therapies for rare skeletal diseases. InnoSkel is developing treatment options for a group of rare skeletal disorders collectively known as type 2 collagenopathies, the most severe of which is Spondyloepiphyseal Dysplasia congenita (SEDc), the second leading cause of dwarfism worldwide. InnoSkel’s lead gene therapy asset for SEDc has demonstrated good efficacy in proof-of-concept studies. The company’s fundamental mission is to improve the lives of patients living with skeletal dysplasia and to answer their unmet needs, keeping their voices at the heart of all they do. InnoSkel is a spin-out of the Institut de Biology Valrose at Inserm, the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, and is based in Nice, France.

For more information, visit www.innoskel.com.

Dr Elvire Gouze, CEO and Founder of InnoSkel                
InnoSkel is led by Elvire Gouze, an experienced scientist, serial entrepreneur and expert in skeletal disorders. She holds a PhD in Molecular Pharmacology and has over 20 years of experience in bone and cartilage diseases. Dr. Gouze has a proven track record of progressing the development of an innovative therapeutic pipeline, as seen with her first venture TherAchon, a biotech company focusing on achondroplasia, a rare bone disease, which was acquired at Phase 1 stage for $810m by Pfizer in 2019.  Since 2016, Dr. Gouze was team leader at the institute Biologie Valrose in Nice where her team focused on the development of innovative biotherapies for skeletal dysplasia.

About Vida Ventures
Vida Ventures is a next-generation life sciences investment firm founded by a group of scientists, physicians, entrepreneurs and investors passionate about building and funding breakthroughs in biomedicine. Together they form an independent, bold investment group bound together by a simple word – life. Its mission is to bring science to life and advance transformative biomedical innovations that have the potential to make a meaningful difference for patients. Vida has a bicoastal presence and currently has approximately $1 billion under management. For more information on Vida Ventures, please visit www.vidaventures.com, on LinkedIn or follow on Twitter @Vida_Ventures.

For more information please contact: