Arctic Therapeutics raises $21.5M to take autoimmune programs to clinic

Why it matters: With this round, Arctic is backing AT-002 and AT-003, treatments that could address gaps in the care of patients with autoimmune diseases such as uveitis, an eye inflammation that can threaten sight and whose steroid treatment increases the risk of glaucoma or cataracts. Meanwhile, its clinical-stage drugs target acne (AT-004) and dementia (AT-001), starting with HCCAA, a rare, fatal inherited disease that causes brain hemorrhages and dementia.

• AT-002 targets uveitis; AT-003 has no named target disease, but Arctic ties the gene behind it, CLEC16A, to 16 autoimmune diseases, among them lupus, multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes, as well as Parkinson’s.
• “Both programs target biological pathways implicated across multiple serious diseases both common and rare,” Arctic founder Hakon Hakonarson said in a statement.

Follow the money: Arctic enlarged the round after strong investor demand. Its leads are three Icelandic investors — family office Pekron, investment company Kaldbakur and venture fund Landvættir — and Danish clinical-research group Sanos.

• Pekron, Kaldbakur and Sanos also backed Arctic’s €26.5 million Series A in January 2025, when Sanos’ chief executive joined Arctic’s board, citing his company’s trial expertise in dermatology and Alzheimer’s. Sanos’ dermatology arm, Blueskin, went on to run Arctic’s acne trial.
• The Series A funded AT-001 and AT-004, which Arctic says have since reached “key Phase 2 clinical milestones.”
• “This new financing gives us the opportunity to unlock additional value within the broader pipeline […] while advancing partnering and out-licensing activities for AT-001 and AT-004,” CEO Ivar Hakonarson added in the press release.

Zoom in: Hakonarson describes Arctic’s approach as “identifying disease biology through human genetics.” In a 2007 study, he and colleagues linked genetic variation in a region containing KIAA0350, now called CLEC16A, to type 1 diabetes. Arctic cites the discovery as part of the scientific foundation for AT-003.

• Later research established CLEC16A’s role in mitophagy, the process by which cells break down damaged or surplus mitochondria. AT-003 is an oral small molecule designed to modulate this and related cellular recycling processes.
• AT-002 is a topical peptide modeled on part of SOCS1, a protein that restrains inflammatory JAK–STAT signaling. Related peptides reduced eye inflammation in mice.
• AT-001, a formulation of N-acetylcysteine amide licensed from Nacuity Pharmaceuticals, has completed the 12-month core treatment period of what Arctic calls a pivotal Phase 2b/3 study in HCCAA (the EU register instead lists an open-label, single-site Phase 2 study). A separate placebo-controlled Phase 2a study in mild cognitive impairment and mild Alzheimer’s disease is fully recruited.
• AT-004 has completed Phase 2a in acne, with Arctic reporting “encouraging efficacy signals” but providing no numerical efficacy results in its October 21 announcement.

Reality check: The financing will bring Arctic’s genetics-driven programs closer to clinical testing, but the new candidates remain unproven in patients. The announcement also leaves unanswered how well its more advanced dementia and acne treatments performed in their clinical studies.