RougeTx has launched with a $58 million Series A financing to advance RTX-001, a potential once-daily oral treatment designed to restore blood vessel stability in HHT (hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia).

The round was co-led by BGV, Angelini Ventures and Kurma Partners, with participation from Epidarex Capital, Vesalius Biocapital Partners, ROM Utrecht Region, p53 Invest and Kerna Ventures.

The funding will support RTX-001 as it progresses towards first-in-human development. HHT is the second most common inherited bleeding disorder, caused by abnormal blood vessel formation known as AVMs.

These can lead to recurrent nose and gastrointestinal bleeding, iron deficiency, chronic anaemia and serious complications affecting major organs. There are currently no approved therapies for HHT.

Andrew Lightfoot, Chief Executive Officer at RougeTx, said: “RTX-001 is designed to stabilise fragile blood vessels by restoring pericyte attachment. The data we have generated for RTX-001 gives us a strong foundation as we move toward the clinic. This financing also allows us to explore where the same biology may impact other vascular diseases.”

Franck Lebrin, Co-Founder and Scientific Advisor at RougeTx, remarked: “RougeTx represents the culmination of more than 20 years of research, initially at Inserm and over the past decade in my laboratory at Leiden University Medical Center. I am excited by the opportunity to bring a novel treatment to the HHT community.”

RougeTx’s periSCOPE platform is designed to expand the pipeline beyond HHT, identifying new treatment opportunities in diseases driven by vascular instability and supporting development of small-molecule therapies based on shared underlying biology.

Laverock Therapeutics has announced new in vivo programmes spanning CAR-T and genetic medicine, expanding its therapeutic pipeline beyond ex vivo cell therapies.

The company said the move strengthens its ability to tackle major challenges in oncology and genetic disease. Its programmable gene control platform enables tunable and multiplex control of endogenous targets and transgenic payloads.

The technology has already been validated in several cell therapy applications, including armoured autologous T cells and iPSC-derived macrophages targeting solid tumours. Laverock said its in vivo programmes will improve efficacy, safety, accessibility and scalability for CAR-T, while supporting development across high unmet-need indications in genetic medicine.

Solid tumours represent 90% of cancer cases, and the company believes its platform is well suited to overcoming the inhibitory factors of the tumour micro-environment.
In genetic medicine, Laverock will use in vivo gene silencing through direct delivery of gene editing tools. This approach aims to support therapy development for nervous system disorders and metabolic disease.

The company said its technology is differentiated by its ability to control multiple targets or pathways simultaneously with precision and context-specific gene expression.

David Venables, CEO of Laverock Therapeutics, said: “Building on our success in developing ex vivo therapeutics, we are extremely excited to announce the launch of our in vivo programmes, and realise the benefits these cutting-edge technologies can bring to patients.”

He added: “This area is highly innovative, and our platform can provide a key element to realising its potential.”

Laverock said industry interest is growing in therapies that can be delivered directly to patients while maintaining precision and safety. The company has several technology partnerships and is open to new collaborations.