Korsana Biosciences Emerges With $175M to Develop Next-Generation Alzheimer's Therapy

Korsana Biosciences, a biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing novel therapies to reduce the burden of neurodegenerative diseases, announced its emergence from stealth with $175 million in funding from a syndicate of healthcare investors. The company was founded in 2024 with a $25 million seed investment from Fairmount and Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners. In September 2025, Korsana closed a $150 million private Series A financing co-led by Wellington Management and TCGX, with participation from J.P. Morgan Life Sciences Private Capital, Janus Henderson Investors, Sanofi Ventures, Foresite Capital, and others.

The capital is intended to support the development of potential best-in-class therapeutics targeting neurodegenerative diseases, initially focusing on Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's disease represents a massive and growing unmet need, with the U.S. patient population projected to double to approximately 13 million by 2050. Only two disease-modifying therapies have been approved to treat Alzheimer's, and both carry safety warnings, offer only modest efficacy, and impose a high burden of care.

Korsana's lead candidate, KRSA-028, is a next-generation shuttled monoclonal antibody targeting amyloid beta for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Discovered in partnership with Paragon Therapeutics, KRSA-028 leverages the company's proprietary Therapeutic Targeting platform, known as THETA™, which incorporates clinically validated transferrin receptor and Fc engineering. The approach is designed to improve drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier and address limitations associated with earlier transferrin receptor-based technologies.

The therapy selectively binds forms of amyloid beta enriched in plaques and is designed to increase plaque clearance while reducing the risk of amyloid-related imaging abnormalities and other adverse events that have complicated first-generation treatments. According to the company, KRSA-028 is engineered to increase amyloid plaque clearance, reduce the rate of amyloid-related imaging abnormalities and hematologic adverse events, and enable a low-volume subcutaneous route of administration to improve convenience and compliance. Unlike currently marketed amyloid-targeting therapies that often require frequent intravenous infusions and intensive monitoring, KRSA-028 is being developed as a low-volume subcutaneous injection, an approach intended to ease treatment logistics for patients and caregivers.

Crossing the blood-brain barrier has historically been one of the most significant obstacles in developing therapies for central nervous system disorders, as many biologic drugs fail to reach sufficient concentrations in brain tissue. The company says its approach combines clinically validated transferrin receptor biology with a therapeutic antibody modification technique called Fc engineering to enhance brain penetration.

The company's financing is expected to fund operations into 2028, providing runway through key clinical milestones. The company plans to initiate first-in-human clinical studies by early 2027. These include pharmacokinetics, central nervous system penetration and safety data from healthy volunteers anticipated in mid-2027, as well as initial proof-of-concept data demonstrating amyloid plaque clearance in Alzheimer's patients expected by the end of 2027.

Korsana is also advancing additional THETA-enabled programs for undisclosed neurodegenerative diseases with significant unmet need. Beyond Alzheimer's disease, Korsana is building a broader pipeline of candidates aimed at other neurodegenerative conditions, though specific targets remain undisclosed.

Korsana has appointed Jonathan Violin, Ph.D., as President and Chief Executive Officer. Violin previously served as the founding CEO of Viridian Therapeutics from 2020 to 2023 and was also the founding CEO of Dianthus Therapeutics and Quellis Biosciences, which later merged into Astria Therapeutics. He has been a venture partner at Fairmount since 2023.

The Waltham, Massachusetts-based company is the sixth biotech to emerge from the stable of venture creator Paragon Therapeutics. Paragon Therapeutics, founded by Fairmount in 2021 and based in Waltham, Massachusetts, has now launched seven companies based on assets it has developed, including Korsana.