British investment firm SV Health Investors has secured $250 million to go toward the development of first-in-class therapeutics for dementia, the second such fund the venture capitalists have put together.
The final push past the finish line came from British Patient Capital, a commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank, which made a £25 million ($32.4 million) commitment to the fund on March 20.
This second iteration of the Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF) will build on the past decade of research progress to support the development of new treatments for dementia, according to a March 20 press release.
“Dementia is now the leading cause of death in the UK, with devastating consequences for patients and their families, and the global costs associated are expected to exceed $2.8 trillion by 2030,” Christian Jung, managing partner at SV, said in the release.
SV Health Investors' DDF-2 will continue the strategy of the first fund “to invest in, create and scale the best U.K. and international biotech companies that develop breakthrough, high-impact treatments in this critical field," Jung added.
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Since its 2015 founding, DDF funding has helped 11 assets enter the clinic, according to the release.
DDF-2 has already made four investments, according to the fund’s website. Beneficiaries include the U.S.-based Montara Therapeutics, Sudo Biosciences and Violet Therapeutics, as well as the U.K.-based Trimtech Therapeutics. Montara, Violet and Trimtech are in the preclinical stage, while Sudo has two TYK2 inhibitors in phase 1 trials.
Sudo dosed the first healthy volunteer in a phase 1 dose escalation trial of brain-penetrating neuroinflammation prospect SUDO-550 in December. A topical asset for psoriasis, SUDO-286, is meanwhile moving through two phase 1 trials of its own.
The first DDF closed in 2018 with £250 million raised, including investments from pharma giants like Biogen, Eli Lilly, GSK, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer, according to the website. DDF-1 supported 16 companies, including Alchemab Therapeutics, which has gone on to forge big-name collaborations with AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly.