Biotech startup Paragen Bio raises $6 million for its work fighting diseases with parasitic worms

Queensland biotech startup Paragen Bio has launched in spectacular fashion with an initial $6 million investment to continue developing new treatments for autoimmune diseases, using secretions from parasitic hookworms.

The James Cook University-based startup has received funding from US-based AbbVie Ventures, the venture capital arm of biopharmaceutical company AbbVie, as well as Australian venture capital funds OneVentures and Brandon Capital, through its Medical Research Commercialisation Fund.

The investment from OneVentures is backed by the Australian government’s Biomedical Translation Fund, a fund pegged for investments in therapeutics and medical devices with a clear commercial pathway, or that are close to clinical development stages.

Paragen Bio may have only just launched, but co-founder and head of research Alex Loukas, who is also a full-time professor at the university, tells StartupSmart work has been “ticking along” on the project for the past seven years.

“We always wanted to do a startup,” says Loukas, but the team was aware they “didn’t just have one lead product”.

After discussing the potential with the team and the university, it was decided that this was more than an “intriguing university product”. Read more

Stephanie Palmer-Derrien - SmartCompany - 15 August 2018