Novo Holdings launches an impact fund commissioned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation with a total budget of USD 165 million to invest in companies involved in discovering and early-stage development of therapies to combat antimicrobial resistance.

The fund will focus on priority pathogens as defined by the World Health Organization and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a catalogue of 12 families of bacteria that pose the greatest threat to human health. The fund is expected to invest USD 20 million to 40 million per year over 3–5 years in about 20 projects in Europe and the United States, which is anticipated to yield at least one new therapy reaching the market.

New approaches to combat antimicrobial resistance urgently need to be developed. Already, more than 700,000 people die each year from infections resistant to most or all antibiotics, and the number is increasing by the day. Antimicrobial resistance is projected to kill more people than cancer does by 2050, which would reduce global economic output by between 2% and 3.5% and severely cripple modern medical and surgical advances.

Despite growing recognition of this threat, there is an early-stage funding gap for new treatments, specifically from lead optimization up to Phase 1 data.  Challenging commercial prospects and lack of clinical evidence create difficulty in attracting capital at this stage of development. Novo Holdings is uniquely positioned to meet this major unmet need. It has a long-term investment horizon, which means that it can pursue ambitious strategies to meet this challenge. It also has the capabilities to support the development of promising therapeutic options and a successful investment track record into eight anti-infective companies, including a portfolio company containing the world’s largest anti-infective discovery group.

Kasim Kutay, CEO of Novo Holdings, says: “We have established this impact fund to provide a fresh approach to a global healthcare challenge. With our scale, vision and capabilities, we are able to provide the essential strategic and financial support to these projects. This approach embodies our ethos to leave a positive and meaningful impact on health and society through our investments in life science. We are looking to increase investments of this type in the coming years, and we are excited about our potential to make a significant difference in improving global healthcare.”

The Novo Nordisk Foundation is commissioning the initiative, and Novo Holdings is executing it.

REPAIR is an acronym: Replenishing and Enabling the Pipeline for Anti-Infective Resistance. Read more and watch the project video: www.repair-impact-fund.com

About Novo Holdings

Novo Holdings is a Danish private limited liability company wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The company is the holding company in the Novo Group, comprising Novo Nordisk A/S, Novozymes A/S and NNIT A/S, and is responsible for managing the Foundation’s assets. In addition to being the major shareholder in the Novo Group companies, Novo Holdings provides seed and venture capital to development-stage companies, takes significant ownership positions in well-established companies within life science and manages a broad portfolio of financial assets. Read more at www.novoholdings.dk.

About the Novo Nordisk Foundation

The Novo Nordisk Foundation is an independent Danish foundation with corporate interests that has two objectives: 1) to provide a stable basis for the commercial and research activities of the companies in the Novo Group; and 2) to support scientific, humanitarian and social causes.

The vision of the Foundation is to contribute significantly to research and development that improves the health and welfare of people. Since 2010, the Foundation has donated more than DKK 15 billion (€2.0 billion), primarily for research at public institutions and hospitals in Denmark and the other Nordic countries and for the treatment and prevention of diabetes. Read more at www.novonordiskfoundation.com.