LONDON, July 16 (Reuters) - Swiss biotech company

Asceneuron said on Tuesday it had raised $100 million from

investors including the controlling shareholder of Wegovy maker

Novo Nordisk to fund clinical development of its Alzheimer's

disease drug.

The Series C round was led by Novo Holdings, the investment

arm of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, which will hold a board seat

on the Lausanne-based company.

Asceneuron's lead experimental drug ASN51 is from a new

class of drugs called O-GlcNAcase (OGA) inhibitors.

The company and Novo Holdings say they expect future trials

to uphold their assertion that ASN51 is superior to those from

the same class in development by rivals Biogen, Merck &

Co ( MRK ) and Eli Lilly ( LLY ).

OGA inhibitors prevent the aggregation of tau proteins in

the brain to slow Alzheimer's progression. They are pills and

could be a companion to another class of treatments that are

injections targeting the beta amyloid protein.

Asceneuron will use the funds for a phase 2 trial that will

begin later this year, CEO Barbara Angehrn Pavik said.

Naveed Siddiqi, senior partner at Novo Holdings, said that

for decades drugmakers had failed to develop effective

treatments for Alzheimer's despite the large number of people

suffering from it, deterring investors.

But the field has recently reached an inflection point, he

said, with breakthrough treatments that remove toxic proteins

from the brain spurring new interest. His view echoed those of

scientists and company executives interviewed by Reuters in

November.

A week ago Novo Holdings led a separate 90 million pound

($116.78 million) funding round for British biotech Myricx

Pharma to progress its experimental cancer drugs.

The wealth and influence of the Novo Nordisk Foundation is

growing rapidly on the back of soaring profits from Novo

Nordisk's weight-loss drug Wegovy and type 2 diabetes drug

Ozempic.

Novo Holdings' capital to invest is also burgeoning. Its CEO

Kasim Kutay told Reuters last year that its deal size in

healthcare will rise, particularly for its principal

investments, which is a separate part of the firm from the

venture investments group leading this month's deals.

($1 = 0.7707 pounds)