Prime Highlights
- Oryon Cell Therapies has launched with fresh funding to develop a new treatment for Parkinson’s disease.
- The company is using cell therapy to repair damaged brain cells and improve patient outcomes.
Key Facts
- The treatment uses a patient’s own cells, which are converted into dopamine-producing cells and then placed back into the brain.
- Parkinson’s disease affects movement and is caused by the loss of dopamine-producing cells in the brain.
Background
Boston-based Oryon Cell Therapies has come out of stealth mode with a $21 million Series A funding round, bringing its total raised — including grants — to $42 million. The company is developing a cell therapy for Parkinson’s disease that uses a patient’s own cells to restore dopamine production in the brain, an approach that sets it apart from most other therapies in this space.
Veteran biotech leader Ron Cohen, M.D., has been named CEO of the company. Cohen, who established Acorda Therapeutics, developed Inbrija, which became an approved inhalation therapy for Parkinson’s patients who experience sudden loss of their medication effects.
The science behind Oryon’s treatment has been in development for over two decades. The company holds a licence to technology developed at McLean Hospital’s Neuroregeneration Research Institute, with the first patient treated in a Phase 1 clinical trial in September 2024, conducted within the Mass General Brigham healthcare system and its Harvard Medical School-affiliated institutions.
What makes Oryon’s approach distinct is its built-in measurement tool. Using a DaTscan, which evaluates the brain’s dopamine system, the company measures dopamine restoration on the treated side of the brain while tracking motor recovery, creating something close to a built-in control arm since outcomes can be compared to the untreated hemisphere.
The company presented interim trial data at the AD/PD 2026 International Conference on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases earlier this month, with results showing that treating one side of the brain compares favourably with treating both sides. The next phase of the trial is expected to incorporate bilateral treatment.
With fresh capital and early clinical data in hand, Oryon is now positioned to move its programme forward at a faster pace.
