Founded
2017
Founder & CEO
Andreas Katopodis
% Shareholding
38%
Stage
Clinical
Number of employees
25+
Raised in a Series B financing in December 2021
CHF110m

All financials as at 30 June 2023.

Anaveon website

Anaveon is a clinical phase biopharmaceutical company that specialises in the development of treatments for diseases with immune system dysfunction.

Anaveon is a clinical phase biopharmaceutical company that develops biologics to modulate the function of cytokines with the potential to provide substantial therapeutic benefit to cancer patients.  Its vision is to develop novel immune therapies benefiting patients suffering from a wide variety of diseases with immune pathology.

Anaveon is developing selective IL-2 Receptor agonists, which have the potential to therapeutically enhance a patient’s immune system to respond to tumours. In the body, human IL-2 stimulates a type of immune cell, called a T-cell, to multiply and become activated.  Activated T-cells are able to attack tumours and, consistent with this approach, human IL-2 is already approved as a therapeutic for the treatment of metastatic melanoma and renal cancer; however  human IL-2 has severe, dose-limiting side effects due to lack of specificity and a short half-life that requires frequent infusions. Anaveon’s lead compound, ANV419, is designed to preferentially signal through the IL-2 beta/gamma receptor and therefore overcome known challenges of human IL-2. This novel type of therapeutic, if approved, could potentially have a wide utility in oncology, including in combination with a wide range of modalities such as cell therapies, vaccines, checkpoint inhibitors and radiotherapy.

Investment thesis

  • Developing a selective IL-2 agonist with improved administration and toxicity burden
  • Wide potential utility across multiple oncology indications in wider markets*

Unmet medical need

  • Human IL-2 approved as a medicine for the treatment of metastatic melanoma and renal cancer, but with a cumbersome administration schedule and significant toxicity**

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4938354/

** https://www.cancernetwork.com/view/managing-toxicities-high-dose-interleukin-2 

The Anaveon pipeline

Best ideas Pre-clinical Clinical Late Clinical BLA
  • ANV419 - metastatic melanoma

  • ANV419 - multiple tumour types

Syncona team

Martin Murphy

Martin Murphy

Martin is Chair of Syncona Investment Management Ltd. He co-founded Syncona in 2012 alongside The Wellcome Trust. Since then, Martin has been closely involved in the foundation and development of multiple Syncona companies, including: Achilles Therapeutics, Autolus Therapeutics, OMass Therapeutics, Quell Therapeutics, Anaveon, Resolution Therapeutics, and Clade Therapeutics. He is Chairman of Quel…
View Martin's biography
Position
Chair
Qualification
PhD
Alex Hamilton

Alex Hamilton

Alex is an Investment Partner of Syncona Investment Management Ltd. He is a Director on the Boards of SwanBio Therapeutics and Anaveon. Previously, he was a member of the Healthcare Investment Banking team at Jefferies, where he worked on a range of financings and mergers and acquisitions across the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors. Alex has a PhD in Immunology from the Univers…
View Alex's biography
Position
Board member
Qualification
PhD
Alice Renard

Alice Renard

Alice is an Investment Partner of Syncona Investment Management Ltd. She is also currently Head of Operations at Purespring Therapeutics and works closely with Anaveon. Alice serves as an Observer on the Board of Purespring and Anaveon. Prior to joining Syncona, Alice was an Investment Banking Analyst within Barclays’ Healthcare Corporate Finance and M&A team, where she worked on transactions…
View Alice's biography
Position
Board observer
Qualification
PhD

Anaveon leaders and founders

Anaveon publications & presentations

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Anaveon Corporate Presentation

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