Juvenescence Closes Seed Round with Participation from Seasoned Biotech Investors

Biotech Week

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Biotech Week -- Juvenescence, a company focussed on therapeutics for ageing and the diseases of ageing, announced that it has closed its seed funding round, raising US $12.3 million. The Seed Round was significantly oversubscribed and included undisclosed sums from a range of seasoned international angel investors and institutions, including Foresite Capital, Karim Hakimzadeh, Andrew Banks, and Christian Angermayer's Apeiron Investment Group. Two of Juvenescence's founders, Chairman Jim Mellon and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Gregory Bailey, invested $1.5 million each. Proceeds from the Seed Round will be used to establish new collaborations with leading academic institutions built around therapeutic candidates targeting ageing or the diseases of ageing (see also Juvenescence Limited).

"This capital raise is our first step in establishing Juvenescence as one of the top biotech companies in the field of ageing and the diseases of ageing," said Dr. Greg Bailey CEO of Juvenescence, "Through our team's efforts and the support of our investors, we are assembling a comprehensive portfolio of commercially-viable therapeutic assets in the longevity sector. We look forward to taking these compounds into the clinic and making them available to the public."

After being founded in March 2017, Juvenescence closed its first deal in July 2017, when it invested in Insilico Medicine ("Insilico"), a leader in applying artificial intelligence techniques to the challenges of drug discovery and development. Insilico's AI engine can generate novel compounds with specified pharmacological activity or analyse existing data sets to identify novel targets of interest or important subgroups. As part of its investment, Juvenescence formed Juvenescence AI, a joint venture with Insilico that has a license to acquire five compound families per year generated by Insilico's AI engine.

"The Juvenescence team has a long and successful track record in healthcare innovation," said Jim Tananbaum, founder and CEO of Foresite Capital. "We are increasingly investing in applications of machine learning and artificial intelligence to solve the most intractable health problems. Ageing and longevity are among the areas that have the most to gain from this approach, and we are pleased to join this financing round to expand the Juvenescence team's efforts."

Jim Mellon, Chairman of Juvenescence said, "The scientific community's understanding of ageing and longevity has begun to catch up to the aspirations of those who want to live ultra-long lives. People living longer and healthier lives are going to have massive implications for society as a whole and policy makers need to take note. This really is the tip of the iceberg with respect to the vast sums of money, effort and intellect that will be invested into the longevity sector in coming years." About Juvenescence Limited Juvenescence Limited is a biotech company focussed on therapies to increase healthy human longevity. It was founded in 2017 by Jim Mellon, Dr. Greg Bailey, Dr. Declan Doogan, Anthony Chow, and Alexander Pickett. The Juvenescence team are highly experienced drug developers, entrepreneurs and investors with a significant history of success in the life sciences. Juvenescence will create or invest in new companies with ageing or age-related therapeutics, by in-license compounds from academia or industry, or doing a joint venture to develop therapeutics for longevity.

Juvenescence believes that recent advances in science have greatly improved our understanding of the biology of ageing and seeks to develop therapeutics with the possibility of slowing, halting or potentially reversing elements of ageing. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180108006587/en/

Keywords for this news article include: Biotechnology, Business, Machine Learning, Juvenescence Limited, Emerging Technologies, Artificial Intelligence.