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

Copenhagen, Denmark, 8 June 2020 - Today, the Novo Holdings REPAIR Impact Fund announced it has opened a new investment proposal round to life sciences companies developing new treatments to combat anti-microbial resistance. The window for submissions will be open from 8 June to 31 July 2020.

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

REPAIR’s commitment to funding the development of novel antibiotics will provide companies with the essential support to accelerate the development of early stage novel antibiotics towards the clinic to combat the growing threat of drug-resistant bacteria.

Aleks Engel, Partner at Novo Holdings and Director of the REPAIR Impact Fund, said: “COVID-19 has shone a light on the devastating impact of infectious disease on populations around the world. AMR is killing at least 700,000 people per year, which is very similar to COVID-19, which has killed about 360,000 people in the first half of 2020.  The difference is that AMR will kill more than 700,000 people next year and then more the following year and the year after, quickly approaching the millions.  Deaths from COVID should hopefully be drastically reduced next year.

“Novo Holdings is proud to financially and strategically support the development of high-quality projects, which will address the vast unmet need of antimicrobial resistance, for which other private funding has decreased at an alarming rate since we launched REPAIR.”

This is the fifth call for investment proposals since the REPAIR Impact Fund was set up in 2018. The fund has screened more than 180 investment proposals and invested in eight companies based in Europe and USA, all of which show great diversity of approaches to the scientific challenge of antimicrobial resistance. REPAIR has a total investment budget of EUR 135 million.

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