Orthogon Therapeutics Raises Additional $11M in Funding

The company plans to use the funds to continue developing its leading drug for BK polyomavirus.

Orthogon is developing an oral treatment for the BK virus that works across all stages of infection, from early activity to severe disease. It targets viral proteins that were previously hard to treat with traditional drugs, offering a new approach where other treatments have struggled.

Its main drug focuses on the VP1 capsid protein, helping stop the virus where it replicates. This approach provides strong lasting control of the infection across different variants especially in transplant patients, where the virus can cause serious problems.

Orthogon has also studied hundreds of patient-derived BK virus samples and found that the virus exhibits natural variations in regions where antibodies bind, allowing it to replicate beyond the reach of those antibodies. This helps explain why antibody based treatments have limited success and highlights how Orthogon’s drug is designed to overcome these challenges.

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Orthogon is developing new small-molecule drugs targeting two key viral proteins, VP1 and large T antigen (LTAg), a challenge that has been difficult to overcome for many years. The program will be presented at major transplant and virology conferences in 2026, building on earlier results shared at ASN in 2025.

In addition to its work on polyomaviruses, Orthogon is also developing treatments for other infections that affect transplant patients and still lack effective solutions.

“This is not a conventional antiviral setting. We built this program to meet the realities of transplant care,” said Ali H. Munawar, Ph.D., CEO of Orthogon Therapeutics. “These patients are treated within a narrow balance of immunosuppression, organ function, and high pill burden. We designed around those constraints, arriving at a candidate profile that we’re excited to take into development.”

About Orthogon Therapeutics

Founded by Ali H. Munawar, Orthogon is a biotech company focused on polyomaviruses. It uses a proprietary platform that combines structure-based drug design with detailed analysis of viral proteins to target areas once considered hard to treat. The company is based in Greater Boston with a research branch in Leuven, Belgium and operates as a private R&D company linked to the Pledge Therapeutics discovery platform.

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