4 October 2019 - - US-based Aeovian Pharmaceuticals, a company developing innovative therapies for the treatment of rare and age-related diseases, has closed a USD 37m series A financing co-led by venBio Partners and Sofinnova Investments, alongside founding investors Apollo Health Ventures and Evotec SE, the company said.

The proceeds from this financing will be used to advance its lead selective mTORC1 inhibitor, AE116, from the preclinical stage through clinical proof of concept for an undisclosed rare disease of the central nervous system.

Richard Gaster, MD, PhD, Principal at venBio, and Mike Powell, PhD, managing general partner at Sofinnova Investments, will join Jens Eckstein, PhD, managing partner at Apollo Health Ventures on Aeovian's board of directors.

Yvonne Yamanaka, PhD, vice president at venBio, and Sarah Bhagat, PhD, Principal at Sofinnova, will join as Board Observers.

Aeovian's proprietary platform is supported by an extensive intellectual property portfolio, part of which has been obtained by assignment from the Buck Institute of Novato, California, the nation's first independent research facility focused solely on understanding the connection between aging and chronic disease.

Aeovian Pharmaceuticals, Inc. focuses on the discovery and development of novel, highly selective mTORC1 inhibitors for the treatment of rare and age-related diseases.

The company was founded with technology licensed from The Buck Institute for Research on Aging. Aeovian's lead candidates are poised to overcome the clinical limitations of current mTOR inhibitors, namely their deleterious side effects on metabolic health and immune function that arise from their off-target inhibition of mTORC2.

Aeovian's lead compounds are novel, highly selective modulators of the mTORC1 pathway with the potential to address multiple underlying causes of disease initiation and progression, such as oxidative, cellular, and environmental stress.

venBio Partners is a life sciences investment firm that partners with industry leaders to build innovative medicines and technologies, with a focus on novel therapeutics for unmet medical needs.

Sofinnova Investments is a biopharmaceutical investment firm with approximately USD 2.1bn in assets under management.

Apollo Health Ventures is an early-stage investment firm based in Europe and the US focusing on translating breakthrough discoveries in geroscience.

Evotec is a drug discovery alliance and development partnership company focused on rapidly progressing innovative product approaches through highest quality stand-alone and integrated drug discovery and development solutions.