Apollo Health Ventures pumps another $180M into the burgeoning race to slow aging

Nils Regge, Apollo co-founder and partner

An­ti-ag­ing re­search has pro­gressed rapid­ly over the last sev­er­al years, with Google and even Ama­zon bil­lion­aire Jeff Be­zos buy­ing in. But the field’s lat­est in­vest­ments will come from Apol­lo Health Ven­tures, which has raised $180 mil­lion to fund ear­ly en­trants in the bur­geon­ing race to pro­long hu­man life. Apol­lo closed its sec­ond fund on Wednes­day, about three years af­ter clos­ing its first fund at some­where north of $20 mil­lion (though that fig­ure could still go up if in­vestors con­tribute to fol­low-on rounds), CFO Steven Le­unert told End­points News.

‘The health­care sec­tor is ex­pe­ri­enc­ing a par­a­digm shift from treat­ing age-re­lat­ed dis­eases long af­ter first symp­toms have de­vel­oped to tar­get­ing the root caus­es at ear­li­er stages in the dis­ease pathol­o­gy,’ Apol­lo co-founder and part­ner Nils Regge said in a state­ment.

The Berlin-based ven­ture firm has al­ready used some of the new cash to make six in­vest­ments in the longevi­ty field, and it’s look­ing to grow its port­fo­lio to 10 or 15 com­pa­nies over the next three years, ac­cord­ing to part­ner Mar­i­anne Mertens. The fo­cus? Tack­ling the ‘root caus­es of ag­ing,’ Mertens said — which can mean any­thing from neu­rode­gen­er­a­tive dis­ease to di­a­betes.

‘It’s not the ag­ing it­self, but it’s the dis­ease pro­gres­sion that goes along with it,’ Le­unert said.

The com­pa­ny’s first fund added four com­pa­nies to its port­fo­lio, in­clud­ing Aeov­ian Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals, which bagged $37 mil­lion back in 2019 for its mTORC1 in­hibitor, and Ochre Bio, which launched ear­li­er this year with a unique ap­proach to iden­ti­fy­ing new tar­gets for liv­er dis­ease.

So far, the new round has brought in two Berlin-based longevi­ty com­pa­nies called Boost­er Ther­a­peu­tics and Re­foxy Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals; a Swiss-based com­pa­ny work­ing on long-non­cod­ing RNA tar­gets called Haya Ther­a­peu­tics; a qui­et Cam­bridge, MA-based com­pa­ny called Galilei Bio­sciences; and two oth­ers in stealth mode.

‘Our sweet spot is re­al­ly ear­ly-stage and com­pa­ny cre­ation,’ she said. ‘We try to al­ways think in the big­ger pic­ture,’ con­sid­er­ing how a com­pa­ny’s tech­nol­o­gy might trans­late to oth­er dis­ease ar­eas, or slow the pro­gres­sion of age-re­lat­ed dis­eases.

The well-doc­u­ment­ed (and some­times ridiculed) an­ti-ag­ing field has gained mo­men­tum in re­cent years, with Be­zos re­port­ed­ly in­vest­ing in a stealthy biotech called Al­tos Labs just a cou­ple months ago. And back in Ju­ly,  Ab­b­Vie and Google-backed Cal­i­co reached a $1 bil­lion deal to dou­ble down on their part­ner­ship.

‘We just thought the op­por­tu­ni­ty is right and the time is right for an ap­proach like this,’ Mertens said. ‘We just see that there’s tremen­dous, tremen­dous new knowl­edge around the ag­ing path­ways.’

While oncology researchers have long pursued the potential of cellular immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer, it was unclear whether these therapies would ever reach patients due to the complexity of manufacturing and costs of development. Fortunately, the recent successful development and regulatory approval of chimeric antigen receptor-engineered T (CAR-T) cells have demonstrated the significant benefit of these therapies to patients.

Stéphane Bancel, Moderna CEO

Even as public health officials remain guarded about their comments on the likelihood Omicron will escape the reach of the currently approved Covid-19 vaccines, there’s growing scientific consensus that we’re facing a variant that threatens to overwhelm the vaccine barricades that have been erected.

Stéphane Bancel, the CEO of Moderna, one of the leading mRNA players whose quick vault into the markets with a highly effective vaccine created an instant multibillion-dollar market, added his voice to the rising chorus early Tuesday. According to Bancel, there will be a significant drop in efficacy when the average immune system is confronted by Omicron. The only question now is: How much?

Unlock this story instantly and join 124,300+ biopharma pros reading Endpoints daily — and it’s free.

The nonprofit Institute for Clinical and Economic Review on Wednesday released a new report highlighting the ways in which payers are generally ensuring fair access to prescription drugs, even when based on a set of criteria set by the nonprofit.

While noting the lack of transparency hindered the report’s results, ICER said that the ‘great majority’ of payer policies in the formularies evaluated are structured in a way to support many key elements of how ICER defines ‘fair access.’

Reshma Kewalramani, Vertex CEO (Vertex via YouTube)

Vertex claimed its second early-stage win of the fall Wednesday, announcing positive results in a small study on a genetically defined form of kidney disease.

The 16-patient, Phase II trial focused on patients with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, a rare disease where kidneys are unable to filter blood properly. Over 13 weeks on an experimental pill, the level of protein in the patients’ urine fell by an average of 47.6%.

Simon Read, Curie Therapeutics CEO

Amid a renaissance in the field of radiopharmaceuticals, a growing chorus of biopharma players is rushing the stage to capitalize on tech breakthroughs. Biotech blue-chippers RA Capital and Atlas Venture, sensing an opportunity, are now setting up their own startup to challenge the big boys.

Curie Therapeutics uncloaked from stealth Wednesday with $75 million in Series A funding from Atlas, RA and Access Biotechnology, with the goal of leveraging a seasoned team of experts to get the jump on the growing class of cancer therapeutics, the biotech said.

Paul Hudson, Sanofi CEO (Cyril Marcilhacy/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Paul Hudson has spotlighted vaccines, immunology and dermatology as some of the top R&D focuses at Sanofi. His latest deal brings all of them together.

The French pharma giant isn’t sharing any financial details about the buyout of Origimm, a low-profile, private Austrian biotech whose technology promises to identify antigens causing skin disease and build vaccines against them. Their lead candidate targets acne vulgaris.

Unlock this story instantly and join 124,300+ biopharma pros reading Endpoints daily — and it’s free.

Philip Dormitzer, new GSK global head of vaccines R&D

GlaxoSmithKline has appointed Philip Dormitzer, formerly chief scientific officer of Pfizer’s viral vaccines unit, as its newest global head of vaccines R&D, looking to leverage one of the leading minds behind Pfizer and BioNTech’s RNA collaboration that led to Covid-19 jab Comirnaty, the British drug giant said Tuesday.

Dormitzer had been with Pfizer for a little more than six years, joining up after a seven-year stint with Novartis, where he reached the role of US head of research and head of global virology for the company’s vaccines and diagnostics unit.

Unlock this story instantly and join 124,300+ biopharma pros reading Endpoints daily — and it’s free.

Since our start in 2016, Endpoints has grown fast while executing our mission to cover biopharma’s most critical developments for industry pros worldwide. As readership has grown, our advertising business has too. Endpoints advertising partners support the mission and engage their desired audiences through announcements on our email and web platforms, brand recognition in our event coverage and sponsorships of Endpoints daily and weekly reports.

In a first, China has featured insulin in its centralized drug procurement program — but the bulk order comes at a sizable cost for multinational pharma players.

Novo Nordisk, Sanofi and Eli Lilly were among eight companies, domestic and foreign, whose insulin products won tenders from the Chinese public hospital system. In exchange, the drugs’ prices were cut, on average, by 48%, saving the medical institutions a collective $1.4 billion on the first batch of 210 million doses, according to state media.
https://endpts.com/apollo-health-ventures-pumps-another-180m-into-the-burgeoning-race-to-slow-aging/