Novo Holdings REPAIR Impact Fund Announces Second Global Call for New Investment Proposals to Fight AMR

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, March 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Novo Holdings REPAIR Impact Fund announced the opening of its next investment proposal round for international life science companies developing new treatments to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The submission period will run from 1 April to 7 May 2021.

This is the EUR135 (USD 165) million REPAIR Impact Fund's sixth call for investment proposals since it was set up in 2018, and second global call. To date, REPAIR has received over 200 investment proposals and has made nine investments in its commitment to help tackle the global AMR crisis. REPAIR provides not only funding, but also critical strategic support and connections to other investors to accelerate the development of early-stage novel antibiotics towards the clinic.

Aleks Engel, Partner at Novo Holdings and Director of the REPAIR Impact Fund, said: "AMR is very much the 'other' raging pandemic in addition to the all-pervasive COVID-19 crisis. It is a constantly mutating entity, currently killing at least 700,000 people every year. It is getting deadlier every year and may curtail most advances in modern medicine. Significant steps need to be made to develop new products and innovative methods for combating the healthcare crisis that AMR represents, and REPAIR is proud to be playing a pivotal role in helping companies do this. So far we have invested in nine companies across Europe and North America and we are looking forward to hearing from companies with novel life-saving anti-microbials in early development."

The REPAIR Impact Fund initially invests only in projects that are between lead optimization and Phase 1 clinical trials; however, the Fund may continue to support its portfolio companies as they advance into Phase 2 clinical trials.

Companies are invited to submit a non-confidential proposal, which will be presented to the fund's Scientific Selection Board. Successful projects will be selected later in the year.

For more information on the investment proposal and selection process please visit: https://www.repair-impact-fund.com/investment-process/

About the REPAIR Impact Fund

The Fund invests in start-ups, early-stage companies and corporate spin-outs in Europe and the United States. It gives priority to first-in-class therapies, covering small molecules, biologics and new modalities, from the early stage of drug development (lead optimization) to the early stages of clinical development (Phase 1). Given the difficult environment for anti-infectives, the REPAIR Impact Fund will keep certain capital in reserve to potentially support funding for its portfolio companies Phase 2 clinical trials. It can invest as the sole investor or in a syndicate, with investments ranging from EUR 1 million to EUR 12 million.

The projects are selected through an investment process with support of a highly qualified Scientific Selection Board, comprising 10 world-class experts. For more information about members of the Scientific Selection Board, see www.repair-impact-fund.com/people.

The Fund focuses on priority pathogens as defined by the World Health Organization and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a catalogue of 18 families of bacterial and fungal pathogens that pose the greatest threat to human health. For more details about the investment process, see www.repair-impact-fund.com/investment-process.

REPAIR is an acronym: Replenishing and Enabling the Pipeline for Anti-Infective Resistance.

The REPAIR Impact Fund is a Novo Holdings initiative.

About Novo Holdings

Novo Holdings A/S is a Danish private limited liability company wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. It is the holding company of the Novo Group, comprising Novo Nordisk A/S, Novozymes A/S and NNIT A/S, and manages the Foundation's assets.

In addition to being the major shareholder in the Novo Group companies, Novo Holdings provides seed and venture capital to development-stage companies, takes significant ownership positions in well-established companies within life science and manages a broad portfolio of financial assets.

It is the vision of Novo Holdings to be recognized as a world-leading life science investor with a focus on creating long-term value. Read more at www.novoholdings.dk.

SOURCE Novo Holdings