Vancouver’s CereCura Secures C$1.4M for Brain Disorder Research

Vancouver-based CereCura Nanotherapeutics Inc. (“CereCura”) has secured C$1.4 million in seed funding, and plans to use the capital to advance research into innovative treatments for brain disorders.

CereCura was co-founded by UBC professor Pieter Cullis, who developed lipid nanoparticle ribonucleic acid (LNP – RNA) technology as a means of delivering therapeutics to the human body. The drug delivery system served as the central building block for the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. The company’s CEO Louis-Phillipe Bernier has emphasized the expanded use of LNP-RNA technology, stating that “[w]e’re seeing this as something that will change the way we treat many diseases, not just the brain.”

CereCura’s latest research focused on treating neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. A key scientific challenge in this domain is the restrictive blood-brain barrier (BBB), which tightly regulates the entry of new substances into the brain. While the BBB serves a vital purpose in protecting the brain from harmful pathogens, it also prevents many drugs from reaching the brain. The goal of the LNP-RNA technology is to allow the necessary proteins to be manufactured internally, thus bypassing the BBB.

The all-equity seed round was led by WUTIF Capital, with support from UBC Venture Funds, among other venture and angel investors. CeraCura has now raised C$2.2 million from seed financing, in addition to over C$4 million in government grants to date.