AXA invests $25m in gut health
Pardon the Interruption
This article is just an example of the content available to mallowstreet members.
On average over 150 pieces of new content are published from across the industry per month on mallowstreet. Members get access to the latest developments, industry views and a range of in-depth research.
All the content on mallowstreet is accredited for CPD by the PMI and is available to trustees for free.
The alternative investments unit of French insurer AXA is to help tackling issues with infectious diseases and malnutrition with a $25m (£20m) investment in Vedanta Biosciences, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company.
Vedanta is conducting trials of its oral therapies, which re-establish the bacterial balance in patients’ small and large intestines.
The investment was made through AXA IM’s global healthcare private equity strategy, which invests in companies with “innovative and affordable solutions” to global health challenges, the insurer said. It also directly aligns with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal 5: Good health and wellbeing.
Curt LaBelle, partner and head of healthcare private equity at AXA IM Alts, said gut diseases including malnutrition and infectious diseases are major causes of morbidity and mortality more broadly across low and middle-income countries.
He added: “We believe our investment may deliver strong financial returns and be a positive driver in developing more effective therapies globally, ultimately contributing to our broader impact and investment goals of solving prominent global health challenges.”
LaBelle will also join Vedanta’s board of directors.
For Vedanta, the investment will enable it to complete a phase III clinical study in recurrent Clostridium difficile infection, a phase II study in, as well as development work in malnutrition.
AXA’s investment forms part of a $106.5m financing round co-led by new investors AXA IM Alts and the AMR Action Fund, along with existing investors Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Skyviews Life Science, Reimagined Ventures, Fiscus Ventures, PEAK6 and Atlantic Neptune.
Other investors participating in the funding round include K2 HealthVentures, Korea Investment Partners, Korea Investment & Securities Asia, Korea Investment & Securities US, PureTech Health, Revelation Partners, QUAD Investment Management, Seventure Partners, Hambro Perks and Pfizer.
Earlier this year, AXA IM Alts committed $25m to Axena Health, a women’s health medical device company established by its global healthcare private equity strategy, in a series A investment.
The investment will support and expand access to the Leva Pelvic Health System, a programme that offers at-home treatment for urinary incontinence and chronic fecal incontinence in women.
Should insurers allocate more of their investments to healthcare solutions?
