$36 million for the Israeli startup that connects drugs with code
Israeli startup Remepy has raised $36 million in a Series A funding round. The company is developing "hybrid drugs" that combine traditional medication with digital code to enhance treatment efficacy.
Remepy's first hybrid drug for Parkinson's | Source: Remepy
What if the next medicine you take didn't just come in a box, but also included code that would increase its effectiveness? The Israeli startup Remepy wants to change the traditional pharma industry with hybrid drugs, and it is now presenting impressive clinical results alongside a new funding round.
Not just a pill to swallow
"The application makes accessible motor, psychological, and cognitive interventions that are tailored to the disease and the drug, and are personalized for the patients. The combination of the drug and the digital interventions significantly improves the effect of the drug," explains Dr. Michal Tsur, co-founder and co-CEO of Remepy, in a conversation with Geektime. According to her, the results from a study conducted among those who took the drug showed a significant improvement compared to using the drug alone. "For pharmaceutical companies, this is a way to improve and expand the indications of existing and new drugs, and to differentiate themselves in the market, all within the familiar regulatory and economic infrastructure of pharma," she adds.
As part of the clinical study for Hybridopa, their hybrid drug for Parkinson's, the participants who received the product showed an improvement of 9.7 points on the accepted scale for assessing Parkinson's (MDS-UPDRS), compared to 1.95 in the control group – and over 90% of them responded to the treatment. At Remepy, they are already working on joint clinical development together with the company Merck (which is currently investing in the startup), and are promoting additional partnerships for the clinical development of hybrid drugs with pharma companies for a number of diseases. "The approach is not unique to Parkinson's. It is suitable for any place where a therapeutic application can add to the action of a drug," said Tsur.
Remepy was founded in 2023 by Dr. Michal Tsur-Shalev, Or Shoval, and Professor Amir Amedi, who directs the Brain and Imaging Institute at Reichman University. In 2024, former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett joined the company's board of directors, but recently left the board after Tsur's son, Yonatan Shalev, joined Bennett's "Biyad" (Together) movement, in order to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.
On Wednesday, the startup reported the completion of a $36 million Series A funding round led by O.G. Venture Partners and M Ventures, the strategic investment arm of Merck KGaA. New and existing investors in Remepy also participated in the new funding round, including Gigi Levy-Weiss's NFX, Vine Ventures, TechAviv, 97212 Ventures, Qumra Capital, Fresh Fund, PsyMed Venture, Tadmor Group, and IT-Farm Corp. Today, the Israeli startup employs about 60 people in its offices in Ramat Gan.
