Press Release: Cambrian BioPharma Closes $100 Million Series C to Advance Healthspan-boosting Therapeutics to the Clinic
5 mins to read
October 26, 2021
New York, Oct. 26, 2021 - Cambrian BioPharma, a multi-asset longevity biotech, today announced the close of an oversubscribed Series C financing, which raised $100 million. The financing was co-led by Anthos Capital and SALT Fund, with participation from existing investors Apeiron Investment Group, Future Ventures, Moore Capital and others, to develop therapeutics to combat the biological drivers of aging, treat and prevent age-related diseases and lengthen healthspan. With this financing, Cambrian has raised approximately $160 million since the company was founded in 2019.
The company also announced the appointments of Paul Farr, Partner at Anthos Capital, and former Allergan CEO and BridgeBio director Brent Saunders to its board of directors.
“We are thrilled to have such a visionary group of investors partnering with us to further Cambrian’s mission. It’s an honor to welcome Paul and Brent to the board to help Cambrian become the leader in the longevity biotech field,” said James Peyer, CEO and Co-Founder of Cambrian. “The capital from our Series C round equips us to continue advancing our existing pipeline and also partner with more scientific innovators to bring more programs under the Cambrian banner.”
Age-related diseases account for more than two-thirds of all deaths worldwide, taking 41 million lives every year, or nearly one death every second. Existing approaches to these diseases are almost exclusively reactive - waiting for people to get sick and only then using the rapidly expanding knowledge of biology to try to treat very sick patients.
Cambrian believes the future of medicine lies in approaching these diseases proactively, removing damage at a cellular level before a person becomes a patient. Each therapeutic in Cambrian’s pipeline targets a different type of damage that builds up with age and will be tested for clinical safety and efficacy in an acute indication before running multi-disease prevention trials.
“The reason I invest and build companies in biotech is to create a world where people can be happier and healthier for longer,” said Christian Angermayer, Cambrian’s Co-Founder and Chairman. “By developing the first medicines to slow the rate of aging, Cambrian is challenging us to think about today’s most deadly diseases in a new way.”
A Next Generation Drug Discovery “DisCo” Model
Cambrian operates as a Distributed Development Company (or DisCo) designed to bridge the gap that exists today between academic discovery and drug development. This unique drug discovery model combines the advantages of a venture capital firm and a big pharmaceutical company, with the nimbleness of a biotech startup. Cambrian’s sourcing and development engine enables the identification of promising science, deep due diligence, deployment of capital and teams of drug development experts all under the same roof.
By leveraging established expertise and a scalable operating model, Cambrian achieves vast efficiencies in execution speed and the cost of developing new drugs. Cambrian’s hypothesis driven approach and industry-leading pipeline of drug candidates provides for reduced risk and multiple “shots on goal”. To date, Cambrian has 14 novel therapeutics in development across its majority-held pipeline companies.
“Cambrian’s novel business model brings efficiency, expertise and scale to create the first drugs designed to allow people to live longer in good health,” said Paul Farr, Partner at Anthos Capital. “We are excited to support Cambrian’s mission to build therapies that will revolutionize the way we approach healthcare in the 21st century.”
Cambrian Operating Plans
Proceeds from the financing will support the advancement and expansion of a diversified pipeline of novel therapies, each with the potential to both treat and prevent age-related diseases, with the goal of extending human healthspan. Cambrian expects to initiate clinical trials for three programs in the next 18 months.
About Cambrian BioPharma
Cambrian BioPharma is building the medicines that will redefine healthcare in the 21st century – therapeutics to lengthen healthspan, the period of life spent in good health.
As a Distributed Development Company (or DisCo), Cambrian is advancing multiple scientific breakthroughs each targeting a biological driver of aging. Our approach is to develop interventions that treat specific diseases first, then deploy them as preventative medicines to improve overall quality of life as we age. To date, Cambrian has 17 novel therapeutics in development across its pipeline. For more information, please visit www.cambrianbio.com or follow us on Twitter @CambrianBio and LinkedIn.
MacDougall
Susan Sharpe
ssharpe@macdougall.bio
+1 781 235 3060