Founded
2017
Founder & CEO
Andreas Katopodis
Shareholding
37%
Stage
Clinical
Number of employees
20+
Raised in a Series B financing in December 2021
CHF110m

Unless stated all financials at 30 September 2024

Anaveon website

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

Anaveon is focused on developing 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. Syncona is supportive of the company’s next generation asset, ANV600, which targets IL-2 to tumour fighting immune cells in the tumour microenvironment and which we believe may have the potential to demonstrate superior efficacy.

Investment thesis

  • Developing a selective IL-2 agonist with improved administration and toxicity burden
  • Wide potential utility across multiple oncology indications in wider markets1

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 toxicity2

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

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

The Anaveon pipeline

Best ideas Pre-clinical Clinical Late Clinical BLA
  • ANV600

Syncona team

Roel Bulthuis

Roel Bulthuis

Roel Bulthuis is Managing Partner, Head of Investments of Syncona Investment Management Limited Roel is currently a Managing Partner at Syncona, where he manages the investment team and utilises more than 20 years of life science venture capital, business development and investment banking experience to help Syncona deliver value through the investment cycle. He is a Board member of iOnctura and A…
View Roel's biography
Position
Board member
Qualification
MSc, MBA
Alex Hamilton

Alex Hamilton

Alex is an Investment Partner of Syncona Investment Management Ltd. He is a Director on the Board of 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 University of Cambridge.
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 is a Board member of iOnctura and Forcefield, and serves as an Observer on the Boards of Purespring and Anaveon. Prior to joining Syncona, Alice was an Investment Banking Analyst within Barclays’ Healthcare Corporate Finance…
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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