LifeMine Therapeutics Secures $263M Financing Led by Gates, Bezos to Advance Novel Transplant and Immunology Therapy LIFE-001

Watertown, Massachusetts, August 6 – LifeMine Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that pioneered Top-Down Drug Discovery™ and leverages digital genomic mining of fungi to identify next-generation precision medicines, announced the completion of $263 million in financing to accelerate the clinical development of its lead program, LIFE-001, and advance its novel pipeline of transplantation and immunology therapies. To date,LifeMine has raised $558 million from leading life sciences investors.

LIFE-001 is a novel calcineurin activation inhibitor (CNai) with a unique structure and mechanism, provided as a long-acting injection and designed de novo to avoid all traditional calcineurin inhibitors (CNis) (such as cyclosporine,voclosporinand tacrolimus) co-Some pro-immunosuppressant-dependent organ damage. In the ongoing Phase 1 single ascending dose (SAD)/multiple ascending dose (MAD) study involving more than 120 adult participants, LIFE-001 has demonstrated a significantly improved profile compared to traditional CNIs, including no clinically significant renal, metabolic, or cardiovascular safety signals observed to date.

Dr. Gregory Verdine, Co-Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of LifeMine, stated:“More than 1.6 million people worldwide live with transplanted organs, yet clinicians continue to rely on calcineurin inhibitors. Despite their well-recognized toxicity, these agents have remained largely unchanged for over three decades. As the first proof point of our discovery engine, LIFE-001 is designed to overcome the limitations of traditional calcineurin inhibitors by directly inhibiting calcineurin activation without dependence on intermediate immunophilins. We believe this novel approach has the potential to redefine the standard of care by delivering the efficacy of calcineurin inhibition in preventing organ transplant rejection, while significantly improving patient safety, tolerability, and dosing convenience. With this financing and the support of a distinguished consortium of investors, we are well-positioned to rapidly advance LIFE-001 into the next stage of clinical development.”

Andrew Cameron, M.D., Chief Surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital, stated:“Calcineurin inhibition remains the gold standard for preventing organ rejection, but current therapies carry significant toxicity that may compromise long-term patient outcomes, as transplant recipients typically take these medications for life. Next-generation calcineurin activation inhibitors have the potential to maintain efficacy while substantially reducing multi-organ toxicity, representing one of the most meaningful advances in transplantation in decades. The emerging clinical profile of LIFE-001 is highly encouraging, with its novel mechanism of action and long-acting formulation poised to meaningfully advance the field.”

LifeMineCompleted byLed by Milky Way Investmentsof$188 million Series E financing, with new investors including Bezos Expeditions, Gates Frontier, and RA Capital Management, as well as continued support from existing investors such as GV (Google Ventures), LoLa Capital Partners, GlaxoSmithKline, Invus, and ARCH Venture Partners. The Series E round builds on the company’s previously completed $75 million Series D financing with existing investors and LoLa Capital Partners, bringing the total amount raised to $263 million. The proceeds will be used to support the ongoing clinical development of LIFE-001, including the Phase 2 kidney transplantation study and the Phase 1b islet cell transplantation study under the LifeMine program.

Co-founder and Chairman of the Board of LifeMine,Milky Way InvestmentsPartner Rick Klausner, M.D., stated:“LIFE-001 demonstrates the power of the LifeMine approach, which leverages evolutionary biology to identify drugs with novel mechanisms of action. By targeting calcineurin activation through a new mechanism, LIFE-001 has the potential to overcome the limitations that have defined this therapeutic class for decades. LIFE-001 provides the first clinical validation of a platform capable of producing a new generation of differentiated drugs, and I am excited about the company’s next chapter of growth.”

LifeMine continues to expand its executive leadership team, including the recent appointment of Yves Zinggler as Chief Business Officer. Mr. Zinggler joined LifeMine from Vertex, where he served as Vice President and General Manager of the U.S. Cystic Fibrosis business unit. He brings more than twenty years of global commercial leadership experience, including leading 14 product launches and over a dozen brand expansions. Recent additional team appointments in transplant clinical development and translational medicine have further strengthened LifeMine’s expertise as it prepares to advance LIFE-001 into multiple clinical studies and potential commercialization.

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