Stem Cell Network makes first-ever direct investment: $710,000 to Montreal's RejuvenRx
What's the deal? Canada's Stem Cell Network (SCN) has awarded a US$733.3K grant (about $710,000) to Montreal-based RejuvenRxDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, the first direct company investment in the organisation's 25-year history. The money comes through SCN's new Incubation Investment Award (IIA) program.
What does RejuvenRx do? It is developing a next-generation oral medicine that aims to restore healthy blood-forming stem cells and rebuild the immune system. If successful, it could offer a treatment option for patients with serious blood cancers who today may have few alternatives beyond stem cell transplantation.
The company was co-founded by Drs. Anne Marinier and Guy Sauvageau, part of the team behind UM171, a molecule developed at Université de MontréalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → that boosts the effectiveness of stem-cell transplants in cancer patients.
Why now? SCN created the IIA to close an early-stage funding gap between identifying a promising innovation and readiness for clinical development, manufacturing, and significant private investment. The announcement coincided with Global Biotech Week.
What's the endgame? RejuvenRx was selected on the strength of its science, leadership, and business strategy. As part of a strategic partnership with SCN, Capital BioVenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → supported the review and will provide business expertise and mentorship.
"This investment will help us advance the foundational work needed to move our technology closer to patients and strengthen our readiness for future investment and development," said Anne Marinier, chief executive officer of RejuvenRx.
The signal: SCN says its research funding has enhanced or catalysed more than 28 biotechnology companies over 25 years, but the shift to direct investment reflects growing demand for early-stage de-risking in Canadian biotech. "Too often, discoveries made in Canada are developed and commercialized elsewhere, taking intellectual property, talent and economic opportunity with them," said Cate Murray, SCN president and chief executive officer, who added that the network plans to back more companies in the years to come.
Read more: biotech.ca
Image credit: Tareq Salahuddin
