New York, NY, September 5, 2023 – Pathway to Cures (P2C) announced today its inaugural investment of $250,000 in Anvesana to develop therapies for treating inheritable blood and bleeding disorders. Pathway to Cures, an affiliate of the National Bleeding Disorders Foundation, is a venture philanthropy fund focused on early-stage companies developing cures, therapies, or enabling technologies in support of the inheritable blood and bleeding disorders community.
Anvesana is developing therapeutics that modulate mRNA biology to treat inheritable bleeding disorders such as hemophilia, as well as neurodegeneration and metabolic syndrome caused by insufficient protein production. The company’s RNA-sequence analysis platform provides insights into the underlying biology, rapidly prioritizing the right RNA species to target for a given disease. Anvesana’s platform consists of a distributed database that stores and searches thousands of RNA sequence datasets and a proprietary reference transcriptome containing over 250,000 annotations curated by a team of over 40 scientists. By leveraging the database and the reference transcriptome, Anvesana’s algorithms filter out many of the biological artifacts that doom otherwise promising RNA therapeutic programs.
“Anvesana is delighted to be working with Pathway to Cures to develop therapeutics that will bring life altering cures to individuals suffering from the devastating effects of inheritable blood and bleeding disorders,” said Eric Ekland, PhD., CEO of Anvesana.
“Being able to support Anvesana in its early-stage research is an incredible step in launching our investment strategy to attract the best science and technology to the inheritable blood and bleeding disorder space,” said Teri Willey, Managing Director for Pathway to Cures. “Their unique scientific approach combined with our ability to help support their understanding of the challenges specific to the community of patients living with inheritable blood and bleeding disorders is a critical step toward addressing the unmet needs through innovative treatments. It is our hope this will be the first of many companies we can support in their journey to bring cures to patients.”
P2C brings investment dollars, knowledge, scientific, and community relationships together to facilitate development of new products to address the unmet needs of the blood and bleeding disorders community. P2C’s Scientific Advisory Group makes recommendations to the P2C Investment Committee regarding promising opportunities. Inheritable blood and bleeding disorders include rare and ultra-rare blood disorders, hemophilia A and B, von Willebrand disease, sickle cell disease, anemia, clotting disorders, and other hematological disorders, affecting more than 20 million people worldwide.
For more information, visit www.pathwaytocures.org or contact Renee Peck at rpeck@pathwaytocures.org.
About Pathway to Cures
Pathway to Cures (P2C) is a venture philanthropy fund created to accelerate development of cures across all inheritable blood and bleeding disorders. In collaboration with other organizations, P2C invests in innovative therapies and technologies, leveraging the deep resources and scientific community relationships of its parent organization, the National Bleeding Disorders Foundation. By reinvesting proceeds from investments back into the Fund, P2C will amplify investment impact, support promising companies, and build a portfolio of investments that further the mission of the National Bleeding Disorders Foundation.
About National Bleeding Disorders Foundation
The National Bleeding Disorders Foundation is dedicated to finding cures for inheritable blood and bleeding disorders and to addressing and preventing the complications of these disorders through research, education, and advocacy, enabling people and families to thrive. For more information, visit hemophilia.org.
CONTACT:
Pathway to Cures
Renee Peck, Senior Development Director
rpeck@pathwaytocures.org
212-328-3790