Aditum Bio Announces Formation of Ancora Bio, to Focus on Treatment-Resistant Depression

OAKLAND, Calif., June 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Aditum Bio, the biotech investment firm co-founded in 2019 by former Novartis CEO Joe Jimenez and former President of the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR) Dr. Mark Fishman, today announced the formation of Ancora Bio, a portfolio company developing a new therapy for treatment-resistant depression. Ancora Bio is being formed following the successful in-licensing of a selective vasopressin 1b receptor (V1b) antagonist (ANC-501) from Taisho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

“Depression is unfortunately one of the fastest growing mental health challenges, exacerbated by the past 12 months of isolation during the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Joe Jimenez, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Aditum Bio. Dr. Mark Fishman, Co-Founder and Chair of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Boards added, “ANC-501 has been shown to impact a definable subset of patients with treatment-resistant depression. We look forward to advancing this important therapy into the clinic to help these patients.”

Ancora Bio is the fifth company launched by Aditum Bio, whose mission is to give large patient populations access to medicines which otherwise may not be developed. To speed these drugs to market, Aditum Bio fosters an incubator model, focusing on the translational phase of drug development. The “spin out” model enables a nimble, start-up culture with its own dedicated team of managers.

Aditum Bio has partnered with TrialSpark, a technology driven research company that can complete clinical trials faster and at a lower cost than traditional trials. TrialSpark has developed a digital platform which enables faster patient recruitment, together with common data entry and analysis across sites which leads to speed, quality, and standardization.

About Aditum Bio
Aditum Bio is committed to improving public health by accelerating R&D in disease areas with both large and more targeted patient populations, where medical innovation can have a huge impact. Aditum Bio focuses on basic mechanisms of disease, in-licenses promising drug candidates directed at such pathophysiology’s, and spins-out individual companies dedicated to bringing each candidate through Phase II clinical trials. In partnership with TrialSpark, Aditum Bio uses data, software and technology to help bring innovative medicines through the clinical trial phase more quickly and with lower costs than traditional pharmaceutical companies.

For more information, please visit www.aditumbio.com.

About TrialSpark
TrialSpark is a technology company that runs end-to-end clinical trials as an alternative to a traditional CRO. TrialSpark has built a technology platform that optimizes all aspects of a clinical trial, enabling faster trial completion, higher data quality, and a more patient-centric experience. TrialSpark also empowers doctors in the community setting to participate in clinical trials, unlocking the 99% of patients the industry has traditionally struggled to reach, accelerating recruitment rates, and democratizing access to clinical trials. TrialSpark is backed by leading investors such as Michael Moritz, John Doerr, Thrive Capital, and Sequoia Capital.

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SOURCE Aditum Bio