BELMONT, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 23, 2026--
Oryon Cell Therapies (“Oryon”), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing autologous neuron replacement medicines for Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders, today announced it has emerged from stealth and has closed a new $21 million tranche of its Series A financing, bringing its total funding in equity and grants to $42 million. Investors included Neuro.VC, Byers Capital, and others. The company's initial program is a neuron replacement therapy designed to restore dopaminergic function in the brains of people with Parkinson’s disease.
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The company further announced that it has appointed Ron Cohen, M.D., as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Dr. Cohen is an accomplished biopharmaceutical entrepreneur, CEO, industry leader and advocate, with a 30-year record of value creation through development, regulatory approval, and commercialization of novel medicines that address unmet medical needs.
The financing will support completion of an ongoing Phase 1b/2a clinical trial of the company’s lead neuron replacement therapy program, as well as the manufacturing scale-up and regulatory engagement needed to advance to a Phase 3 trial.
“Oryon’s program emerged from 30 years of scientific advances in stem cell biology and neurosurgical techniques, including foundational Parkinson's disease research conducted at Harvard University and Mass General Brigham,” said Ole Isacson, M.D., Ph.D., Co-Founder of Oryon and Founding Director of the Neuroregeneration Research Institute at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School. “The major milestones we announced today reflect the tremendous progress we have made in moving this technology from the lab to the clinic, and will allow us to accelerate it through its next stages of development.”
Dr. Cohen said, “Prior to joining Oryon, I spent more than 30 years collaborating with company colleagues, scientists, doctors, and patients to address unmet needs in treating neurological conditions, including Parkinson's disease. Oryon's early clinical findings show motor improvements and corresponding neuroimaging evidence of restored dopaminergic signaling. These are exhilarating from my perspective as both a physician and long-time drug developer.”
Dr. Cohen continued, “I'm delighted to have joined the Oryon team to help achieve our goal of bringing this extraordinary therapy to patients.”
Oryon's Technology
Oryon's neuron replacement therapy is derived from the patient’s own (i.e., autologous) blood cells, which are induced to become pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). These cells are then driven by proprietary methods to become the type of brain dopaminergic neurons that degenerate in Parkinson's disease. The neurons are then implanted directly into the putamen, the brain region most directly implicated in Parkinson’s motor symptoms. Because they are derived from the patient's own cells, immune suppression is not required, as would be typical for organ transplants from other donors.
Phase 1b/2a Data Presented at AD/PD™ 2026 International Conference on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases
Oryon’s lead program is currently being evaluated in an ongoing Phase 1b/2a clinical trial being conducted at Brigham & Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Detailed clinical and neuroimaging data from the study were presented on March 21, 2026 at the AD/PD™ 2026 International Conference on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases by Penelope Hallett, Ph.D., Co-Director of the Neuroregeneration Research Institute at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School.
About Ron Cohen, M.D.
Before joining Oryon, Ron Cohen, M.D., was President, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and Founder of Acorda Therapeutics, Inc., a public biotechnology company that developed and commercialized therapies for disorders of the nervous system, including Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis. Merz Therapeutics acquired the company's commercial portfolio in 2024. Previously, Dr. Cohen was a principal in the startup and an officer of Advanced Tissue Sciences, Inc., a biotechnology company engaged in the growth of human organ tissues for transplantation uses. He served as Director and Chair of the Boards of both the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and the New York Biotechnology Association (NYBA), where he advocated on behalf of the biotechnology industry before political leaders, patient organizations, and other constituencies.
Dr. Cohen is a recipient of the NY CEO Lifetime Achievement Award and the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the New York Metropolitan Region. He was named Neuroinvestment’s CEO of the Year and received the Burke Award from Burke Rehabilitation Hospital for his contributions to helping people with disabilities gain independence. He has been recognized by the NYBA as its “The Cures Start Here” Business Leader of the Year, and by PharmaVOICE Magazine as one of the 100 Most Inspirational People in the Biopharmaceutical Industry. Dr. Cohen received an M.D. from the Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons and a B.A. degree with honors in psychology from Princeton University. He completed a residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Virginia Medical Center, and is board certified in Internal Medicine.
About Oryon Cell Therapies
Oryon Cell Therapies is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing autologous cell therapies for neurodegenerative disorders, with an initial focus on Parkinson’s disease. Co-founded in 2020 by Ole Isacson, M.D. Ph.D., and Nikola Kojic, M.D., Ph.D., the company’s technology is designed to restore synaptic function and motor control by replacing neurons lost to the disease, with the goal of achieving functional restoration. Visit www.oryoncelltherapies.com for more information.
Ron. Cohen, MD, CEO of Oryon Cell Therapies
The top commander of the U.S. military’s Central Command said the campaign against Iran is “ahead or on plan," as the Israeli military began what it called "a wide-scale wave of strikes targeting Iranian terror regime infrastructure” early Monday.
U.S. Navy Adm. Brad Cooper gave his first one-on-one interview of the war to the Farsi-language satellite network Iran International, which aired it early Monday. Iranian media reported new airstrikes targeting Tehran without identifying the sites being hit.
The previous day, Tehran warned it could attack U.S. and Israeli energy and infrastructure assets if Israel or the U.S. attempt to follow through on President Donald Trump 's threat that the U.S. would “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if it doesn’t fully open the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump — who is facing increasing pressure at home to secure the strait as oil prices soar — issued the ultimatum in a social media post while he spent the weekend at his Florida home.
The death toll from the war has risen to more than 1,500 people in Iran, more than 1,000 people in Lebanon, 15 in Israel and 13 U.S. military members, as well as a number of civilians on land and sea in the Gulf region. Millions of people in Lebanon and Iran have been displaced.
Here is the latest:
Ther strike on the bridge Monday in the southern village of Qaaqaaiyet al-Jisr cut a main link between the southern city of Nabatiyeh and al-Hujair valley region further south.
The state-run National News Agency gave no further details about the latest strike on a bridge on the Litani river to be destroyed in recent days.
On Sunday, Israel struck the Qasmiyeh bridge near the southern port city of Tyre.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called Israel’s new targeting of bridges in the south “a prelude to a ground invasion.”
Iran’s Defense Council threatened Monday to deploy naval mines across the “entire Persian Gulf” if a land invasion happens.
The council issued the statement as concern in Tehran grows about the potential arrival of U.S. Marines to the region.
“Any attempt by the enemy to target Iran’s coasts or islands will, naturally and in accordance with established military practice, lead to the mining of all access routes ... in the Persian Gulf and along the coasts,” the council said.
The U.S. has been trying to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, to energy shipments. The Marines could come ashore to seize either islands or territory in Iran to support that mission. Israel also has suggested a ground operation could take part in the war.
Jamal Abdi, head of the National Iranian American Council, described President Donald Trump’s threat to strike Iran’s energy facilities as a “collective punishment.”
“Threatening to bomb Iran’s power plants is a threat to millions of civilians,” he said. “This is not a ‘targeted’ strike. This is collective punishment.”
A senior United Nations official said the war in the Middle East has “far reaching” impact on millions of people particularly in developing countries in Asia and Africa.
In a Monday statement, Jorge Moreira da Silva, executive director of the U.N. Office for Project Services, detailed the ripple effects of the war, now in its fourth week, including “exponential price hikes in oil, fuel and gas.”
“Our world is the most violent it has been since the Second World War,” he said.
He warned that the number of hungry people is likely to increase by tens of millions over the course of the year, as the widening war threatens remittance flows.
The war also displaced 3.2 million people in Iran and 1 million in Lebanon, he said.
He called for diplomacy to end the conflict, saying: “There is no military solution.”
As Trump’s 48-hour deadline to bomb power-generation sites in Iran over the opening of the Strait of Hormuz approaches, there are several electrical sites that could be targets in the Islamic Republic.
Some 80% of all power generated in Iran is created at plants powered by natural gas.
Those plants have continued working, even after Israel last week bombed Iran’s South Pars offshore natural gas field in the Persian Gulf.
Among the top natural gas plants are Damavand Power Plant, Shahid Salimi Neka Power Plant and Shahid Rajaee Power Plant – all around Iran’s capital, Tehran.
Knocking those plants offline could affect businesses and homes in Tehran, as well as halt gas stations and other crucial sites.
By Jon Gambrell
An adviser to the UAE has criticized Arab and Islamic organizations’ response to Iran’s continued attacks in the Arab Gulf countries.
“Where are the joint Arab and Islamic labor institutions,” Anwar Gargash said in a social media post Monday, naming the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
Gargash, who is a former state minister for foreign affairs, said it will be “unacceptable” after the war to talk about “the decline of the Arab and Islamic role or to criticize the American and Western presence” in the Gulf region which hosts U.S. and Western bases.
The UAE, which has close ties with Israel and the U.S., has been the hardest hit by Iranian missiles and drones since the war in the Middle East began on Feb. 28.
After Iran threatened power plants across the Mideast, news outlets published a list of such facilities, including the United Arab Emirates’ nuclear power plant.
The report by the semiofficial Fars news agency, close to its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, appeared to be an indirect threat to the sites, including desalination plants in the Middle East. The list also included the UAE’s Barakah nuclear power plant, which has four reactors out in the western deserts of the country near its border with Saudi Arabia.
The judiciary’s Mizan news agency also published the list.
The threat by Tehran puts at risk both electrical supplies and water in the Gulf Arab states, particularly as the desert nations commingle their power stations with desalination plants crucial for supplying drinking water.
Trump’s self-declared 48-hour deadline expires just before midnight GMT Tuesday, further raising the stakes of the ongoing war with Iran that has disrupted global energy supplies, sending natural gas and gasoline prices soaring.
U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social website early Monday: “PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH, TO PUT IT MILDLY!!!”
The head of the U.S. military’s Central Command says Iran is “operating in a sign of desperation” by targeting civilian sites in the war.
In an interview with the Farsi-language satellite network Iran International aired early Monday, U.S. Navy Adm. Brad Cooper said: “They’re operating in a sign of desperation. ... In the last couple of weeks, they’ve attacked civilian targets very deliberately, more than 300 times.”
Cooper also noted the slowdown in Iranian incoming fire across the Mideast as the war has entered its fourth week.
“At the beginning of the conflict, you saw large volumes in the dozens of drones and missiles,” Cooper said.
“You no longer see that. It’s all one or two at a time.”
The top commander of the U.S. military’s Central Command said the U.S. campaign against Iran is “ahead or on plan.”
U.S. Navy Adm. Brad Cooper gave his first one-on-one interview of the war to the Farsi-language satellite network Iran International, which aired it early Monday.
Cooper said Iran’s continued attacks on Gulf Arab states and the wider Mideast put civilians at risk.
He added that the U.S. and Israel were targeting missile and drone manufacturing sites as well.
“We’re also going after the manufacturing,” he said. “So it’s not just about the threat today. We’re eliminating the threat of the future, both in terms of the drones, the missiles, as well as the navy.”
Cooper also said it isn’t time for the Iranian public to come to the streets, although both Israel and the U.S. have said they hope the Iranian public would topple the country’s theocracy as a result of the strikes.
“They’re launching missiles and drones from populated areas and you need to stay inside for right now,” Cooper said. “There will be a clear signal at some point, as the president has indicated, for you to be able to come out.”
A cargo ship carrying vehicles sails through the Arabian Gulf toward the Strait of Hormuz in the United Arab Emirates, Sunday, March 22, 2026. (AP Photo)
Israeli security forces survey the site that was struck by an Iranian missile in Dimona, southern Israel, Sunday, March 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
A displaced girl feeds a baby as other children stand at tents sheltering people who fled Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, in Beirut's southern suburbs, along the wall of the Pine Residence, the official residence of the French ambassador, in Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Smoke and flames rise from an Israeli airstrike that hit the Qasmiyeh Bridge near the coastal city of Tyre, Lebanon, Sunday, March 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammad Zaatari)
