Sharjah’s CE-Ventures Backs Oyster Therapeutics in $60 Million Series A to Advance Alzheimer’s Drug

CE-Ventures, the corporate venture capital platform of Sharjah-based Crescent Enterprises, has backed London-based Oyster Therapeutics as part of a $60 million Series A financing. The investment, announced on 10 November 2026, will advance Oyster’s lead programme, an oral drug designed to break down the tau protein behind Alzheimer’s disease, towards clinical development.

Oyster, previously known as Kesmalea Therapeutics, develops next-generation targeted protein degraders. These are drugs that get the body to break down specific harmful proteins rather than simply blocking them, and Oyster’s first target is tau, the protein whose abnormal accumulation defines a group of neurodegenerative diseases known as tauopathies, including Alzheimer’s.

The Series A was led by 4BIO Capital, a London-based specialist life science investor, with participation from Eli Lilly, Actium Group and TOHO Ventures, alongside existing investors Syncona, Oxford Science Enterprises, Mission BioCapital and Mass General Brigham Ventures. CE-Ventures did not disclose the size of its own investment.

Oyster will use the financing to take its lead tau degrader towards the clinic while advancing its broader SELFTAC platform. The platform is designed to solve a central limitation of targeted protein degradation, the size of the molecules involved, by combining the power of bifunctional degraders with properties that support brain penetration and oral delivery.

“We are delighted to welcome CE-Ventures as an investor and to have their support as we enter this next phase of growth. This financing enables us to accelerate our lead tau degrader towards the clinic while advancing our broader SELFTAC platform, which we believe has the potential to unlock a new generation of medicines for diseases of the central nervous system. We look forward to working with CE-Ventures and our wider investor syndicate as we build a leading company in targeted protein degradation.”

Rob Johnson, Chief Executive Officer of Oyster Therapeutics

“CE-Ventures continues to expand its life sciences portfolio by backing differentiated technologies with the potential to address areas of significant unmet medical need. Oyster Therapeutics combines a proprietary platform with a clear therapeutic focus in neurodegenerative disease, where new approaches capable of addressing underlying disease biology are urgently needed.”

Tushar Singhvi, Deputy CEO and Head of Investments at Crescent Enterprises

“Oyster’s SELFTAC® platform addresses a key challenge in targeted protein degradation by aiming to combine the power of bifunctional degraders with properties that support brain penetration and oral delivery. Its lead tau programme gives the company a differentiated approach in neurodegenerative disease, supported by strong scientific expertise and a path towards clinical development.”

Dr. Damir Illich, VP, Life Sciences at CE-Ventures

Oyster adds neuroscience and targeted protein degradation to CE-Ventures’ life sciences portfolio, which already spans drug discovery, genetic medicine and targeted therapeutics. The deal is CE-Ventures’ second notable biotech bet in as many years, after it co-led the seed round of CrossBridge Bio in 2024, a developer of next-generation antibody-drug conjugates that Eli Lilly acquired in April 2026.

Kesmalea, as Oyster was then known, raised a £25 million Series A in 2022, led by Syncona alongside Oxford Science Enterprises. The new financing comes under the Oyster name, and the company has not given a timeline for its first clinical trial.

Sharjah is now a name in the Alzheimer’s drug race

Two years after co-leading the seed round of CrossBridge Bio, which Eli Lilly acquired in April 2026, CE-Ventures is now investing alongside Lilly in a $60 million round for an Alzheimer’s drug. That is a measure of how far a Sharjah-based corporate venture arm has come as a life sciences investor.

Alzheimer’s is one of the hardest problems in drug development, and tau degradation is one of the newer approaches to it. If Oyster’s oral degrader reaches the clinic, CE-Ventures will have a stake in a therapy that could change how the disease is treated.