Rejuveron Life Sciences Files IPO Prospectus Amid Over $100M Funding and Strong Backing from Middle Eastern Investors

Aging is an inevitable process for humans, yet it is one that can be delayed. As human life expectancy increases and population aging intensifies, anti-aging has become a key area of focus for industry and capital, with numerous companies, tech giants, and wealthy individuals entering the field.

Rejuveron Life Sciences (hereinafter referred to as “Rejuveron”) is an innovative pharmaceutical company strategically positioned in the anti-aging sector.

Headquartered in Zurich, Rejuveron was founded in 2019 by entrepreneurs Christian Angermayer and Matthias Steger. The company is dedicated to developing innovative drugs for the prevention and treatment of aging-related conditions, aiming to extend lifespan by addressing age-associated diseases. Currently, Rejuveron acquires innovative projects, with its key pipeline candidate RJx-01, now in Phase 1b clinical trials, being developed for the treatment of sarcopenia.

This September, Rejuveron completed a $75 million Series B dual financing round comprising equity and convertible loans. The round was led by Catalio Capital Management and Apeiron Investment Group, with new investors including Mubadala Capital, a subsidiary of Mubadala Investment Company. Headquartered in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Mubadala Investment Company is a sovereign wealth fund with assets under management totaling $280 billion.

This funding round is part of Rejuveron’s strategy to expand its focus on the Middle East, with the company establishing an office in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. This move will position Rejuveron to play a leading role in facilitating the UAE’s transformation into a hub for longevity research and innovation. Currently, Rejuveron has established partnerships with local universities and hospitals to advance aging-related research in the region.

To date, Rejuveron has completed six financing rounds over the past five years, raising a total of more than $100 million.

In addition to capital backing, Rejuveron is supported by an experienced team.

Co-founder and Chairman of the Board, Christian Angermayer, is an entrepreneur and investor. Prior to founding Rejuveron, he was the Founder and CEO of the investment firm Apeiron Investment Group.

Apeiron manages over $3 billion in assets, focusing on investments in life sciences, fintech and cryptocurrency, and future technologies (such as space technology and AI). Over the past 20 years, Apeiron has made more than 26 investments. Christian Angermayer founded three unicorn companies and is a lead investor in four unicorns and two decacorns. With his exceptional capital-raising prowess, Christian Angermayer ranked on Forbes’ 37th Annual Billionaires List.

For this reason, Rejuveron also possesses the capability for outward investment. The company has currently invested in biotechnology firms focused on healthy aging, including Endogena Therapeutics, Rejuveron Senescent Therapeutics, Rejuveron Vascular Therapeutics, Rejuveron Telomere Therapeutics, and Rejuvenate Biomed.

Dr. Aksana Labokha, Chief Executive Officer, brings over a decade of industry experience in the life sciences and healthcare sectors. Prior to joining Rejuveron, Dr. Labokha held key positions—including Board Member, Chief Scientist, and CEO—at various biopharmaceutical companies such as Rejuvenate Biomed (an anti-aging drug developer), Macomics (an immuno-oncology company), and Kymab (a monoclonal antibody drug developer under Sanofi). In these roles, she was responsible for advancing drug R&D, corporate development, and venture capital initiatives.

Co-founder and Board Member Dr. Matthias Steger is a pharmaceutical industry veteran with over 20 years of experience in drug R&D. Previously, he served as Head of Global Research & Technology Partnerships at Roche for seven years, during which he advanced more than 50 business development (BD) deals in areas such as new drug models, drug discovery technologies, and enabling technologies.

Matthias is also an entrepreneur; he is the co-founder of the biotechnology company Endogena Therapeutics and has also established a pharmaceutical company focused on the research and development of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) drugs.

Furthermore, Chief Financial Officer Caleb Morgret brings over 20 years of international financial experience across various industries and regions, having executed business development (BD) transactions totaling more than $30 billion throughout his career. Chief Legal and People Officer Karim Allam has over 20 years of industry experience, providing advisory and consulting services to both public and private companies in the biopharmaceutical sector, and has successfully guided and executed multiple significant transactions.

In October 2021, Rejuveron announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Rejuvenate BioMed and led its $17 million Series B financing round, further expanding the company’s influence in the anti-aging sector. Consequently, Rejuveron integrated Rejuvenate BioMed’s pipeline into its portfolio, which includes RJx-01.

Rejuvenate BioMed has developed two proprietary drug discovery platforms—CombinAge^TMand CelegAge^TM, by employing an artificial intelligence- and network biology-based approach to investigate dysregulated pathways during aging. Based on this, Rejuvenate can identify drug combinations most likely to treat age-related diseases, while ensuring the safety and efficacy of these combinations for treating aging-associated conditions.

RJx-01 is precisely developed by CombinAge^TMand CeleAge^TMEvaluation and appraisal: It is an oral, novel small-molecule combination drug composed of two ingredients, galantamine and metformin, currently under development for the treatment of sarcopenia and other age-related diseases.

Sarcopenia is a condition characterized by an age-related decline in skeletal muscle mass, muscle strength, or physical function, and it is commonly observed in older adults. Although sarcopenia is more prevalent among the elderly, it is not exclusive to this demographic; younger individuals can also be affected. Prolonged sedentary behavior due to long working hours, lack of physical activity, and unbalanced nutrition are contributing factors to the increasing incidence of sarcopenia in younger populations.

Data show that approximately 50 million people worldwide currently suffer from sarcopenia. Driven by factors such as population aging, the number of affected individuals is projected to reach 500 million by 2050.¹. Petermann-Rocha et al. synthesized data from 151 studies and concluded that the global prevalence of sarcopenia among adults aged 60 years and older ranges from 10% to 27%, while the prevalence of severe sarcopenia ranges from 2% to 9%.²。

Despite the high prevalence and severe adverse consequences of sarcopenia, there are currently no approved pharmacological treatments, representing a significant unmet medical need.

Preclinical studies demonstrated that RJx-01 significantly increased muscle mass, muscle strength, and physical function in mouse models of sarcopenia. Furthermore, RJx-01 markedly improved physical performance and muscle strength in aged wild-type mice, accompanied by significant enhancements in skeletal muscle ultrastructure, mitochondrial morphology, autophagy, lysosomal function, and satellite cell content in this model.

This October, Rejuvenate Biomed announced that RJx-01 had completed a 6-week Phase 1b clinical trial. RJx-01 met all primary and secondary endpoints, demonstrating positive outcomes in 42 elderly male subjects with disabling muscle atrophy. The results indicated that RJx-01 exhibited a favorable safety and tolerability profile, with no treatment-related serious adverse events reported.

Rejuvenate Biomed expects to evaluate the results of RJx-01’s impact on exploratory pharmacodynamic parameters, including blood- and muscle-related biomarkers, in the fourth quarter of this year. Additionally, the company plans to initiate a Phase 2 clinical trial program in 2024, focusing on RJx-01 as a treatment for sarcopenia.

The anti-aging market holds immense potential for development.

According to the “Research Report on the Development of the Global and Chinese Anti-Aging Industry and Consumer Demand (2022–2023)” released by iiMedia Research, the global anti-aging market size grew from $139.5 billion in 2015 to $216 billion in 2021. The global anti-aging market is expected to maintain a high growth rate, with its size projected to exceed $300 billion by 2025.

In the anti-aging sector, although no drugs specifically targeting aging have yet been approved for market launch globally, numerous companies have entered the field. According to statistics from Beike She, there are currently 14 anti-aging-related drugs under development worldwide, including one in Phase II clinical trials, one in Phase I clinical trials, seven in preclinical stages, and five in drug discovery.

Faced with this $100 billion “cake,” tech giants and ultra-wealthy individuals also seek to profit from it.

In 2013, Google co-founder Larry Page invested $700 million to establish Calico Life Sciences (Calico). Calico’s mission is to extend human lifespan. Leveraging its parent company’s cloud services and data centers, the company aims to conduct research on aging and age-related diseases by mining useful information from big data.

In 2016, Mark Zuckerberg invested $3 billion to establish the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, aiming to map the human “Cell Atlas” and discover methods to extend human lifespan.

In 2022, anti-aging company Altos Labs secured $3 billion in angel funding, with investors including Amazon founder and former world’s richest person Jeff Bezos, and Yuri Milner, an Israeli billionaire and early Facebook investor. Altos Labs aims to rejuvenate cells through biological reprogramming technologies, ultimately reversing aging and extending human lifespan.

The entry of tech giants has further facilitated the application of new technologies, such as AI, to the research and development of anti-aging drugs, accelerating product launches and industrial progress. Other pharmaceutical companies are also continuously breaking through in R&D technologies, aiming to become leaders in this sector. However, this will lead to more intense market competition, with pharmaceutical companies still continually joining the race for the anti-aging market.

Let’s wait and see who will ultimately stand out!

References:

1. Petermann‐Rocha F, Balntzi V, Gray S R, et al. Global prevalence of sarcopenia and severe sarcopenia: a systematic review and meta‐analysis[J]. Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle, 2022, 13(1): 86-99.

2. Petermann‐Rocha F, Balntzi V, Gray S R, et al. Global prevalence of sarcopenia and severe sarcopenia: a systematic review and meta‐analysis[J]. Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle, 2022, 13(1): 86-99.