Today, we were pleased to hear that Samumed, a San Diego-based biotech company working on regenerative medicine, has just raised $438 million towards developing anti-aging therapies.
SAN DIEGO – August 6, 2018 – Samumed, LLC, announced today that it has closed its A-6 Round of equity issuance with $438 million, bringing its total equity raised to date to more than $650 million.The pre-money valuation for the round was $12 billion. “We appreciate the strong support from our investors,” said Osman Kibar, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Samumed, “and we are now in a fortunate position to both move our later stage programs to commercialization, as well as expand on our earlier stage science and clinical portfolio.”
Samumed is developing small-molecule drugs that target the regenerative potential of the Wnt pathway in order to reverse the progression of various age-related diseases. Its development pipeline includes therapies focused on osteoarthritis, degenerative disc disease, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and Alzheimer’s disease. A number of these therapies are currently in human trials, and some of them are currently in phase 2 testing.
Harnessing our innate regenerative power
Our body is filled with stem cells that live in every single tissue and multiply in order to provide us with fresh and healthy cells to replace losses. Stem cells can produce more stem cells, or they can differentiate into specialized cells that form our various organs and tissues. During our lives, adult stem cells help to repair and maintain our tissues, and the focus of Samumed is to replenish them via the Wnt pathway.
The Wnt pathway is a primary signaling pathway that regulates the self-renewal and differentiation of adult stem cells. It plays a key role in tissue repair and upkeep, and it helps the body repair and regenerate following injury.
As we age, the Wnt pathway becomes deregulated, which leads to a decline of tissue regeneration and supports the progression of various age-related diseases. Samumed is focused on modulating the Wnt pathway in order to promote the restoration and health of diseased tissues by spurring effective regeneration.
Conclusion
While the company is some years away from delivering a marketable product aimed at one of the aging processes, it is great to see that, once again, the interest and support of investors is growing for rejuvenation biotechnology. Doing something about the aging processes is now a serious prospect not only to the scientific community but also to investors who are increasingly willing to invest in and support the development of these technologies. The data is finally starting to arrive and, hopefully in the near future, will bear fruit in the form of medicine that changes how we look at aging forever.
