Over the past seven years, Bayer’s investment arm has injected more than 1.3 billion euros into more than 50 companies.Leaps for Bayer are picking up the pace of its deals, and Bayer is 1.3 billion euros more committedwhich the multinational estimates will fuel its investment vehicle for another two years.
Bayer announced the capital commitment Friday at the company’s Breakthrough Innovation Forum, which covers the company’s initiatives in healthcare and agriculture. These two areas were the core focus areas of Bayer when it founded Leaps in 2015 to invest in companies that develop breakthrough solutions to the major challenges facing humanity, which the company calls “leaps”. In the beginning, Bayer identified 10 leaps. Leaps in healthcare span genetic diseases; organ and tissue replacement; cancer; neurological diseases; autoimmune diseases and inflammation; and applying data to health.
Leaps has not disclosed its future investment plans. But if Bayer’s deals in recent years are any indication, cell and gene therapy may well be the bets. In 2019, Bayer comprehensively Acquired BlueRock Therapeutics, a cell therapy developer founded three years ago with venture capital firm Versant Ventures. BlueRock cell therapy in development for Parkinson’s disease Start a clinical trial last year. BlueRock develops “off-the-shelf” therapies using induced pluripotent stem cells. The experimental cell therapy DA01 consists of neurons that produce dopamine that Parkinson’s patients lack. These cells are surgically transplanted into the brain in the hope that they will produce dopamine and may provide a better replacement for the old dopamine replacements that are part of the current standard of care.
Bayer’s gene therapy investment includes commitment Up to $4 billion to acquire AskBio, a gene therapy biotechnology with the most advanced projects in its pipeline targeting Parkinson’s disease and the neuromuscular disease Pompe disease. And earlier this year, Bayer forms partnership to enable development of new in vivo gene-editing therapeutics using CRISPR from Mammoth Biosciences. The initial focus of the Mammoth League was liver disease. Rather than abandoning traditional small-molecule drugs, Bayer is abandoning its toolbox for discovering them.Bayer prepaid $1.5 billion in August Acquired Vividion Therapeuticsa biotechnology whose technology discovers binding pockets on proteins considered “non-drugable”.
In an interview on the sidelines of the JPMorgan healthcare conference in January, Christian Rommel, head of research and development at Bayer’s pharmaceutical division, told MedCity News that Bayer’s investment is part of a broader strategic shift around innovative new medicines, some of which are in new Way. Rommel said Bayer will look for additional acquisitions or partnerships that fit that strategy.
“It’s in our DNA now,” he said. “We will continue to look for things that will enhance our capabilities and pipeline success.
Leaps’ cell therapy investments include Indapta, a biotech, is investigating therapies that utilize natural killer immune cells. Leaps’ latest cell therapy investment is Affini-T Therapeutics. late March, Leaps co-led a $175 million investment in the cell therapy research-based startup From the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
Leaps also spends its cash on artificial intelligence.it is One of the investors in AI-based biotech company Recursionwhich one listed last year.Other AI drug discovery companies backed by Leaps funding include Dewpoint Therapeutics, using artificial intelligence to develop biomolecular condensate drugs. Leaps also right New approach to developing protein medicines, co-leads investment round for GRObio and Gandeeva therapy.
Bayer’s interest in AI’s investment arm extends to healthcare software. last summer, Leaps leads $90 million round in Adaa German startup that is developing artificial intelligence-based symptom-checking software. Leaps is also an investor in Transcarenta healthcare navigator founded by Livongo Health founder Glen Tullman.
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