A Cambridge drug discovery company which is looking at new ways to treat anti-ageing has raised over £500,000 towards its research.
Five Alarm Bio (FAB) has attracted investment from Cambridge Angels, Meltwind, o2h Ventures, SyndicateRoom, and Angel investors, with support from KPMG Acceleris.
The new funding will fund the tech firm’s investigation into novel compounds to extend the healthy lifespan of cells and tissues, and potentially treat a broad range of age-related diseases.
The money raised from the seed funding round follows a £360K Biomedical Catalyst grant from Innovate UK, which was awarded to FAB early last year to develop its technology as a treatment for chronic wounds.
Based on major breakthroughs in understanding of how age-associated chemical damage accumulates in cells and tissues, FAB is developing an innovative small molecule approach to help boost our defences as we age, with the ultimate aim of extending healthy lifespans.
Age-related diseases such as arthritis, sarcopenia and Alzheimer’s Disease are among the leading causes of disability and mortality across the developed world, and a major burden on health funding. Globally, the anti-ageing therapeutics market is expected to reach $2.01 billion by 20301.
The investment will drive further research into FAB’s proprietary approach, testing new compounds for their ability to extend the healthy lifespan of cells in vitro and improve their function in disease-relevant models. By targeting an unexplored mechanism of ageing, these compounds have the potential to delay or prevent the onset of a broad range of age-related diseases.
Dr Janette Thomas, CEO, Five Alarm Bio, said: “Whilst life expectancy has increased over recent years, our healthy lifespan has not kept up. Anti-ageing science therefore has huge value. Here at FAB our proprietary approach aims to overcome this fundamental challenge to human health as we work to discover and develop new drugs for age-associated diseases.
We would like to thank the investors in our seed funding round for their support, and for their confidence in our team and the potential of our approach.”
Sunil Shah, Co-founder, Five Alarm Bio, and CEO, o2h Ventures, added: “FAB is at the forefront of the rapidly growing anti-ageing therapeutics industry, with the potential to deliver new drugs that extend our healthy lifespan.
“We are delighted to have made this investment alongside Meltwind, Cambridge Angels, and SyndicateRoom. The combination of the scientific depth of our CSO, William Bains, alongside the practical execution skills of the CEO, Janette Thomas, provides a great team to discover and develop new drugs for age-associated diseases.”
Founded in 2016 by three highly experienced entrepreneurs, FAB is currently based in purpose-built lab facilities on the world-renowned Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge.
