Novo Holdings A/S, a Denmark-based global life sciences investor, announced on Thursday the launch of Booster Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing a new class of proteasome activator medicines to treat neurodegenerative and other diseases.

The company has been launched along with a USD15m seed financing round led by Apollo Health Ventures and Novo Holdings.

Novo Holdings says that it will play a central role in helping to further build Booster in its next phase of growth, bringing hands-on operational expertise, strategic guidance, and helping the company access a larger network of talent. Novo Holdings will further leverage the expertise in its group of entrepreneurs-in-residence, as well as the Seed Lab wet-lab capabilities in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The new company was founded by the pioneering work of Dr Diogo Feleciano and University of California Irvine Professor Dr Darci Trader, as part of the company creation efforts of Apollo Health Ventures.