The Science Is Ready. SCI Ventures Is Making Sure the World Is, Too.

Inside the Fund Fast-Tracking Real Treatments for Spinal Cord Injury

SCI Ventures, a groundbreaking philanthropy initiative co-founded by the Reeve Foundation, continues its bold progress toward cures for spinal cord injury (SCI). As the first fund of its kind solely focused on breakthrough therapies for SCI, SCI Ventures is accelerating the path from discovery to real-world impact for the next generation of treatments.

Since its launch in June 2024, the evergreen fund has raised over $33 million and built a portfolio of eight early-stage companies. Backed by the Reeve Foundation and leading SCI foundations across Europe, and guided by world-renowned neuroscientists, SCI Ventures targets functional improvements for rapid progress while also pursuing the ultimate goal of biological repair of the spinal cord.

A defining strength of SCI Ventures is catalyzing the jump from bench science to first-in-human trials, leveraging its own capital and expertise to attract substantial additional private co-investment. Recent proof points include EG 427, now enrolling patients in a first-in-human trial of its gene therapy for dysfunctional bladder, and Axonis Therapeutics’ development of an oral drug advanced to a clinical trial for neuropathic pain — addressing two frequently cited medical priorities of SCI community. The Axonis asset also shows promise for motor-function recovery. These successes underscore SCI Ventures’ ability to unlock additional investment and accelerate promising
therapies into the clinic.

With key investments made in 2025, the year ahead portends even greater scientific progress toward real-world SCI solutions. These include:

• NervGen Pharma Corp., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing first-in-class neuroreparative therapeutics for SCI and other traumatic and neurologic disorders. The company is developing a drug candidate, called NVG-291, that has the potential to become the first approved regenerative drug for SCI. SCI Ventures’ investment supports both the continued advancement of NVG-291 toward a Phase 3 clinical trial and an anticipated Nasdaq listing, a step that would broaden access to U.S. investors and strengthen the company’s position ahead of key clinical and regulatory milestones, notes Adam Rogers, MD, Interim Chief Executive Officer, NervGen.
  
  “NVG-291 has been shown to deliver sustained functional improvements that continue to build even after treatment. The durability of these gains points to true neurorepair, not just a temporary symptomatic effect,” said Adrien Cohen, Founding Managing Director of SCI Ventures. “Participants also reported improved bladder control, reduced spasticity, and lower dependence on medications and mobility aids – all major quality of life enhancements for people living with paralysis. This data challenges the long-standing dogma that, once injured, the spinal cord cannot repair itself in a meaningful way.”
  
  Read more: NervGen announces $10m round to advance therapy and list on Nasdaq
  
  
• Precision Neuroscience, for development of its brain-computer interface (BCI), a wireless device that aims to restore function after paralysis. With access to SCI Ventures’ vast network of patients, doctors and regulatory experts, the company aims to accelerate its push to bring the device to patients with SCI and neurological diseases like ALS and stroke.
  
  SCI Ventures’ investment in Precision reflects its confidence in the potential impact of the BCI field. BCIs are an emerging class of medical technology designed to translate brain signals into digital commands, with numerous potential benefits – from physical movement to enabling people with paralysis to operate computers, communicate with loved ones, control external devices with their thoughts, and more. Precision’s flagship technology, the Layer 7 Cortical Interface, recently received FDA clearance, marking a major milestone in this field.
  
  Read more: SCI Ventures Partners with Precision Neuro
  
  
• Healx, a pioneer in AI-driven drug discovery for rare and neglected diseases, has partnered with SCI Ventures on a first-of-its-kind effort to identify new treatments for chronic SCI. The collaboration applies Healx’s advanced AI platform to uncover regeneration-related mechanisms and pinpoint existing drugs that could be repurposed for SCI — dramatically accelerating the path to effective therapies. While centered on SCI, the partnership is also expected to generate insights relevant to other central nervous system conditions. As a biologically well-defined and stable indication, SCI provides an ideal model for advancing innovation that could ultimately benefit traumatic brain injury, stroke, ALS, MS, Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s.
  
  This momentum, coupled with SCI Ventures portfolio company ONWARD Medical’s recent FDA 510(k) clearance, which is expanding ARCEX System indication for home use, portends a new era for SCI and paralysis.
  
  Learn more about SCI Ventures, its founding story and how the fund is accelerating innovation on Unite 2 Fight Paralysis (U2FP)’s podcast: SCI Ventures -u2fp podcast // SCI Ventures – Apple podcast link // SCI Ventures – Spotify podcast link
  
  Together, SCI Ventures and the Reeve Foundation are transforming research into real-world treatments.
  
  Please consider a gift to help move breakthroughs from the lab to life.
  

The Promise of BCI

SCI Ventures’ investment in Precision Neuroscience underscores the Reeve Foundation’s growing support for BCIs as a promising path toward restoring connection between the brain and body after SCI. How the Reeve Foundation is advancing BCI research:

• Funding research. The Foundation has awarded significant grants, such as a $1.1 million grant to ONWARD Medical to support a clinical study using its ARC-BCI System.
  
• Supporting ethical development. The Foundation is a charter member of the Implantable Brain-Computer Interface Collaborative Community (iBCI-CC), an organization that brings together scientists, the FDA, and industry to advance BCI technology ethically and collaboratively.
  
• Connecting innovators and investors. Through initiatives like the annual SCI Investor Symposium, we are facilitating data sharing and accelerating progress across the field.