Seventure Partners, which specializes in life science microbiome investment, has stated it has completed the first closing of its second fund dedicated to the microbiome, plus related health, nutrition and digital health areas. The fund, as Microbiome Times reports, is called Health for Life Capital II™. The final close topped in excess of €200 million.
Health for Life Capital™ fund gained the interest from strategic investors including Danone, Novartis, Lesaffre, Tornier, Unigrains and Bel, plus others. According to Isabelle de Cremoux, CEO of Seventure Partners: “Our industry partners display strong innovative oriented strategy. They are world leaders and pioneers in supporting innovative food and health concepts.”
The fund will be used to support research into understanding of the interaction between the microbiome and nutrition and food on health. This understanding is set to allow for new insights for treating and preventing diseases. The microbiome refers to the microorganisms in a particular environment (including the body or a part of the body). In the past ten years culture-independent methods of microbial community characterization, like metagenomics (a broad genetic perspective of a single microbial community) and whole genome sequencing (a “deep” genetic perspective of individual bacterial species) have revealed how the balance of microorganisms in areas like the gut are connected to human health (analyzing the human microbiome). This paves the way for the development of novel treatments.
While our DNA partly makes us what we are; this ‘DNA’ does not come exclusively from our own human cells. The DNA also comes from the millions of microbes that live on and inside us. These microbes act like a “second genome” and research suggests individual microbiomes impact upon a range of health conditions, from inflammatory bowel disease to diabetes, multiple sclerosis, autism, cancer, and AIDS.
With the Health for Life Capital™ fund, some interesting developments are emerging. For example, a prodict called Enterome with small molecule in Crohn’s disease; MAAT pharma in Graft versus host disease and Targedys in anorexia with its gut-brain microbiome modulator. Clinical trials are underway for these and other potential products.
