The latest longevity updates from our investment news desk.

Ossium Health awarded $3.46M grant funding

Stem cell company Ossium Health announced that the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine has awarded the company $3.46M in grant funding. The funding is for the continued clinical development of Ossium’s interferon-gamma primed mesenchymal stem cell product, for the treatment of steroid-refractory acute graft versus host disease.

The grant will support and accelerate pre-clinical and manufacturing activities for OSSM-007, with plans to initiate clinical study activities by the end of 2023.

“We’re thrilled to partner with CIRM and appreciate their ongoing commitment to advancing research in stem cell-based therapeutics,” said Kevin Caldwell, CEO of Ossium. “This grant will accelerate Ossium’s development of OSSM-007 and is a crucial step towards a powerful new treatment option for patients with GVHD.”

Gameto appoints CFO

Female reproductive longevity company Gameto appointed Teri Loxam as its first Chief Financial Officer. Loxam joins Gameto with more than 20 years of diverse experience in strategy, investor relations and finance across the pharmaceutical, biotech and TMT industries.

Prior to joining Gameto, Loxam was Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer at Kira Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage biotech company, where she built financial and operational functions across the US and China to get the company public-ready.

“Teri is a proven CFO and an impressive female leader, whose decades of experience will immediately add value to our company,” said Dina Radenkovic, co-founder and CEO of Gameto. “Her depth of knowledge in capital markets and financing in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries comes at an exciting time for the company as we work on clinical development and go-to-market strategy for our lead program, Fertilo, to make the IVF process shorter, safer and more effective for women. Teri’s personal passion for women’s health is extremely important to us as we continue to grow.”

Eterna acquires cell therapy platform

Cell engineering company Eterna Therapeutics (Nasdaq: ERNA) announced the acquisition of the global immuno-oncology platform of Exacis Biotherapeutics. The acquisition provides Eterna with an exclusive global license to produce an unlimited number of mRNA-engineered natural killer and T-cell therapies derived from induced pluripotent stem cells.

Eterna has in-licensed a portfolio of over 100 patents covering key mRNA cell engineering technologies, including technologies for cell reprogramming and gene editing. Eterna plans to use the Exacis platform to develop engineered cell therapies containing genomic edits designed to enhance their performance.

“With Exacis’ pipeline of engineered iPSC-derived cell therapy candidates, we believe Eterna is well-positioned to develop more effective, targeted and highly differentiated medicines to treat cancer,” said Dr Matt Angel, CEO of Eterna. “We believe that combining the Exacis and Eterna technologies de-risks our approach and supports a capital-efficient path to develop highly competitive cancer therapeutics.”

Magnitude lands £500k

Preclinical longevity service provider Magnitude Biosciences has secured £500,000 in new funding, after its investors matched a £250,000 grant from Innovate UK.

Magnitude provides testing services to longevity companies and researchers using C. elegans (a nematode worm), which is an ideal organism in which to rapidly identify compounds that could extend life. The company’s cost-effective testing produces results in as little as two weeks, providing experimental data and insights on a compound’s efficacy, mode of action and potential toxicity.

“This £500,000 will enable further automation to be introduced to our innovative imaging technology WormGazer, allowing us to implement high throughput screening to identify drugs that could slow ageing or prevent age-related diseases!” said the company in a statement.

Biolytica bags $5.8M funding round

Swiss-based longevity startup Biolytica announced $5.8 million in funding from the Maximon Longevity Co-Investment Fund. The company is behind the Biolytica NEXUS health data platform, a revolutionary AI-driven analytics platform that aggregates, visualizes and analyzes a whole raft of data, including genomics, blood, microbiome and epigenetic biomarkers, wearable devices, lifestyle data and more.

Biolytica uses the data to generate solutions for healthcare professionals, including those based at preventive medicine institutions, longevity centers and personalized wellness clinics. The data can also be used by insurance companies and others to create science-based, hyper-personalized client health journeys.

“We are thrilled to have Maximon’s support in our mission to revolutionize how we think about health and prevention in particular,” said Dr Rob Konrad Maciejweski, CEO of Biolytica. “With the investment from Maximon, we aim to establish ourselves as the leading data platform for preventive healthcare and longevity, and continue to drive innovation in personalized health and wellness.”