ViaNautis Secures Key Funding to Advance Spinal Cord Injury Gene Therapy

CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom – September 09, 2026 – In a significant move that could reshape the therapeutic landscape for paralysis, biotech firm ViaNautis Bio has secured a strategic investment from SCI Ventures, a mission-driven fund dedicated to neuro-restoration. The new capital infusion will fuel the expansion of ViaNautis’s central nervous system (CNS) portfolio into chronic spinal cord injury (SCI), a condition affecting over 20 million people globally for which no regenerative therapies currently exist.

The partnership aims to leverage ViaNautis’s proprietary polyNaut® platform, a sophisticated non-viral system for delivering genetic medicines, to overcome one of the most stubborn obstacles in modern medicine: getting the right therapy to the right cells within the damaged spinal cord. This strategic alliance not only provides a crucial financial runway but also serves as a powerful validation of the company's technology as a potential key to unlocking a new generation of treatments.

Overcoming the Final Hurdle: The Delivery Challenge

For decades, the standard of care for spinal cord injury has been limited to rehabilitation and the management of symptoms like chronic pain and spasticity. While promising regenerative approaches have emerged from laboratories, their translation into effective clinical treatments has been consistently thwarted by a fundamental delivery problem. The spinal cord is shielded by the blood-spinal cord barrier, a formidable biological defense that prevents most therapeutic molecules from reaching their target. Furthermore, the chaotic environment of a lesion site requires therapies to be delivered with pinpoint accuracy to specific cell populations to trigger repair without causing off-target effects.

Viral vectors, the workhorses of early gene therapy, have shown promise but come with their own set of challenges, including potential immune responses that prevent re-dosing—a critical limitation for chronic conditions—and strict limits on the size of the genetic payload they can carry. This delivery dilemma has left a vast unmet need, with patients and clinicians alike waiting for a breakthrough.

"Spinal cord injury is one of the clearest examples of a disease area where delivery remains a key limiting factor," said Adi Hoess, Chief Executive Officer of ViaNautis. The challenge, according to industry experts, is not just about bypassing biological barriers but doing so with a system that is safe, scalable, and versatile enough to carry the complex instructions needed for tissue regeneration.

Inside PolyNaut®: A New Engine for Gene Therapy

ViaNautis Bio, formerly known as SomaServe Ltd, believes its polyNaut® platform is the answer. The technology is built on targeted polymer nanovesicles (tPNVs)—tiny, engineered carriers designed to encapsulate and protect a wide range of genetic medicines, from DNA and mRNA to siRNA. The platform’s design is a masterclass in strategic engineering, addressing the core limitations of previous delivery methods.

Its non-viral nature is a key differentiator, designed to avoid the immunogenicity issues that can plague viral vectors. This allows for the possibility of redosing, a crucial feature for managing chronic conditions like SCI over a patient's lifetime. The system operates on a 'plug-and-play' principle, using nanobodies as precision guides to home in on specific receptors on target cells. This allows for the systemic administration of a therapy that can then navigate the body and deliver its payload exclusively to the cells at and around the spinal cord lesion that are involved in regeneration.

Further adding to its strategic advantage is the platform’s versatility and scalability. The tPNVs can carry diverse genetic payloads, and the company has developed a simple, cost-effective, and reproducible manufacturing process. This addresses a major bottleneck in the broader gene therapy industry, where complex and expensive production can hinder development. The resulting nanovesicles are also highly stable, potentially eliminating the need for ultra-cold chain logistics that complicate the distribution of other genetic medicines.

"polyNaut® was designed to precisely overcome these challenges by enabling targeted, non-viral systemic delivery of regenerative payloads to defined cell populations at or around the lesion site," Hoess explained, underscoring the platform's purpose-built design.

A Strategic Alliance to Accelerate Cures

The investment from SCI Ventures is more than just capital; it is a strategic endorsement from a highly specialized player. Backed by leading global foundations and advised by world-class neuroscientists, SCI Ventures focuses exclusively on technologies that can deliver cure-oriented therapies for paralysis. Their decision to back ViaNautis signals a strong belief that the polyNaut® platform represents a viable path toward that goal.

Adrien Cohen, Founding Managing Director of SCI Ventures, commented on the decision: "We are seeing many promising scientific advances in the laboratory but translating these discoveries into meaningful therapies remains a major challenge. What drew us to ViaNautis was the potential of its polyNaut® platform and precise targeting capabilities to overcome one of the most significant hurdles in spinal cord injury: delivery."

This investment places ViaNautis in an enviable position. The company, which previously raised a $25 million Series A round from blue-chip investors including 4BIO Capital, BGF, and UCB Ventures, has also established strategic partnerships with pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. This growing network of high-profile backers validates the broad potential of the polyNaut® platform, which ViaNautis is also advancing across immunology, oncology, and respiratory diseases.

Charting the Course from Lab to Life

While this announcement marks a pivotal moment, the journey from the laboratory to a widely available treatment is long and rigorous. Developing a novel regenerative therapy for SCI involves navigating a stringent regulatory pathway with agencies like the FDA and EMA, requiring extensive preclinical data before advancing through multiple phases of human clinical trials. This process can easily span a decade or more and demands substantial investment.

However, the unique attributes of the polyNaut® platform may offer advantages in this process. Its favorable safety profile and the ability to re-dose could streamline aspects of clinical trial design. The platform’s demonstrated ability to cross the blood-brain barrier in preclinical models, a feat presented at recent scientific conferences like the ASGCT Annual Meeting, is a critical proof point for its potential in CNS disorders.

For the millions living with the daily realities of a spinal cord injury, this strategic shift by ViaNautis represents a tangible step toward a future where treatment moves beyond management and toward restoration. The convergence of a versatile, next-generation delivery technology with focused, mission-driven capital creates a powerful engine for innovation, offering a new horizon of hope in the quest to cure paralysis.