Investors stump up cash for anti-ageing start-up
pharmafile | June 12, 2018 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | Juvenescence, biotech, drugs, pharma, pharmaceutical
Defeating the ageing process is a pie-in-the-sky idea that has resulted, so far, in a rich vein of parody rather than genuine medical advancement – see Silicon Valley’s lampooning of the blood transfusions offered by certain companies, purportedly, to delay ageing.
One Isle-of-Man-based start-up, however, has managed to raise $50 million on the back of the portfolio of prospects it holds in the space.
Juvenescence reports that it has a completed a Series A financing round, which will provide the company with enough funds to advance its “core projects”.
Within its portfolio, it possesses a number of companies that are looking to use artificial intelligence to discover new candidates that may help slow or reverse the ageing process.
Among the companies it’s working with are Insilico Medicine, NetraPharma, LyGenesis, AgeX Therapeutics and it has signed up to work on several prospects with the Buck Institute for Research on Aging.
Greg Bailey, CEO of Juvenescence, said: “The team that we are assembling is remarkable for any biotech company, let alone one at this early stage of development. We have sourced a portfolio of compelling therapies, some of which we will endeavour to take into the clinic in the medium term, and others which we hope to commercialise in the nearer term. This round of financing will allow us to accelerate our licensing and partnership arrangements along with existing product development. The funding also allows us to increase the development of our AI-generated programs”.
The biotech counts Declan Doogan, former SVP and Head of Worldwide Development at Pfizer, and Annalisa Jenkins, veteran of a number of biotechs and pharma companies, as part of the team.
One of the focuses of using the money will clearly also be in pushing a few more deals over the line, as the company announced it is in advanced negotiations with numerous other organisations. It will also pursue further hires to bolster its leadership team.
According to an interview with the Financial Times, this financing round will likely be followed by another later in the year.
Ben Hargreaves
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