Connecta's EIC Accelerator Aims a Fragile X Drug at Children

Fragile X syndrome is the most common inherited cause of intellectual disability, and there is no treatment that changes its course. The CORDIS summary of Connecta Therapeutics' EIC project puts it at about 1.8 million people worldwide and 30% of intellectual disability, with symptoms from childhood for life: learning difficulties, attention problems, hyperactivity, autistic traits and social impairment. The Barcelona company's candidate, CTH120, is a neuroplasticity modulator meant to restore the brain's ability to form and reorganise connections.

The EIC Accelerator selected the project, FRAXCURE, at its October 2024 cut-off for blended finance, and CORDIS records a grant of €2,499,999 from July 2025 to June 2027 to run a phase II trial in paediatric and adult patients, including women of childbearing potential. The argument for including children is explicit in the project: early intervention gives the best chance of developing a full range of neurodevelopmental skills.

The adult trial, and the one the grant pays for

Two trials have to be kept apart here. The phase IIa now running, NCT07654114, enrols 30 adult men aged 18 to 45 and tests 75mg of oral CTH120 twice daily against placebo; it was funded by a €2.7 million Spanish Ministry of Science grant announced in February 2024 with the Centre for Genomic Regulation and the IMIM, under Spain's NextGenerationEU programme, and topped up in September 2026 by a €3.1 million round led by Clave Capital with Inveready, CDTI Innvierte and the Prous Institute. Results are expected in mid-2027, BioXconomy reported.

The EIC grant funds something else: extending phase II into children and into women of childbearing potential, the populations where a disease-modifying drug for a childhood-onset condition would matter most and where regulators demand the most. That trial has not been announced as started, and CORDIS shows no periodic report.

Raising against the data, not ahead of it

Connecta's financing strategy is unusually explicit. Co-founder and chief scientific officer Josep Prous Jr said the September 2026 round "was primarily focused on completing our Phase IIa clinical trial in Fragile X syndrome patients", with a further round expected to fund a phase IIb and paediatric development if the results support it, and said the company aims to raise capital against clinical value inflection points rather than financing too far ahead of data.

That makes the EIC grant structurally important rather than large: €2.5 million of non-dilutive money for the paediatric work that the company would otherwise have to wait for a post-results round to fund. Public money from three levels is now in the programme, Spanish ministry, EU recovery funds and the EIC, alongside the venture investors. No EIC Fund equity investment has been announced.

1. Safety in humansPhase I doneSafety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics reported in CORDIS.
2. Phase IIa in adultsRecruitingNCT07654114, funded to completion by the 2026 round.
3. Paediatric phase IINot startedThe specific purpose of the EIC grant.
4. Evidence of efficacyToo earlyResults expected mid-2027, after the project ends.

Rare disease work that only public money starts

Fragile X is the kind of indication where the economics do not work without public funding: a small patient population, trials in children that carry extra regulatory burden, and a long path to any revenue. The EIC's role here is narrow and defensible, paying for the paediatric arm that a venture-funded company would otherwise postpone until after adult data.