Tribune Therapeutics AB

Tribune Therapeutics AB is a preclinical biotechnology company developing medicines intended to treat fibrosis regardless of its cause, affected tissue or diagnosis. Its approach targets downstream, tissue-agnostic regulators of scar formation and tissue remodelling, in particular members of the CCN family of signalling proteins that drive replacement of functional tissue with collagen and other connective material in organs such as the heart, kidneys, lungs and liver.

The lead program, TRX-44, is a protein therapeutic that mimics the structure and function of CCN5, an endogenous protein that blocks the pro-fibrotic effects of other CCN family members including CTGF/CCN2 and WISP1/CCN4 across multiple cell types involved in fibrotic pathology. The company positions this as an evolution beyond blocking individual CCN proteins or their upstream activator TGF-beta, with the aim of addressing a broader set of fibrotic diseases while avoiding toxicity seen with less targeted approaches. TRX-44 is in preclinical development for fibrotic conditions including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), and the company reports anti-fibrotic effects in animal models of both lung and kidney fibrosis. Additional programs targeting the CCN protein family are also being advanced.

Founding story

Tribune Therapeutics was founded in 2020 with funding from HealthCap and Novo Seeds; Novo Holdings has described the company as co-created in 2020 by its Seed Investments team together with HealthCap Ventures. The science originates from work at Oslo University Hospital by Professor Håvard Attramadal and co-founder Dr. Ole J. Kaasbøll, who began working in Attramadal's laboratory in 2011 and isolated the bioactive fragment of CCN2/CTGF that had eluded the field for nearly three decades, establishing systems for its production and developing what became TRX-44. The underlying discoveries were partially funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation through a Pioneer Innovator Grant.

Business model

Biopharmaceutical research and development company advancing a proprietary pipeline of anti-fibrotic protein therapeutics from preclinical stage toward clinical trials, financed by venture capital.

Traction

Lead program TRX-44 is at preclinical stage with reported anti-fibrotic effects in lung and kidney fibrosis animal models; the 2025 Series A is intended to prepare TRX-44 for first clinical trials and advance additional CCN-targeting programs.

Latest developments

In March 2025 Tribune announced EUR 37 million in seed and Series A funding, including a EUR 23 million Series A led by LifeArc Ventures with Novo Holdings, HealthCap, Innovestor's Life Science Fund, Inven2, Industrifonden and Investinor. LifeArc Ventures cited the investment in its 2025 year-in-review, describing TRX-44 as a first-in-class CCN5-mimicking therapy targeting idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.