Last Week in Longevity #18 - $302M raised
Your weekly business digest of everything that happened in longevity
👋 Hi, I am Fabian, and welcome to my newsletter Last Week in Longevity. Every week, I track where the money, talent, and ideas are moving in the longevity business.
💸 Closed funding rounds
US$ 302M raised across 4 deals.
Direct Longevity Interventions (Category 1)
Gilgamesh Pharma – US$ 60M (Series A) | New York, USA
What they do: Developing novel neuropsychiatric therapeutics including oral NMDA receptor antagonists and neuroplastogens for depression and anxiety. Spun off from original Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals after a licensing deal with AbbVie on psychiatric disorder candidate bretisilocin worth up to $1.2B.
Why it matters: Neuropsychiatric conditions like depression and anxiety are major drivers of reduced emotional and cognitive healthspan. Gilgamesh’s neuroplastogens aim to restore brain plasticity — a fundamental mechanism that declines with age and contributes to cognitive rigidity, treatment-resistant depression, and emotional deterioration in older adults.
Investors: Led by Satori Neuro; participation from Prime Movers Lab and existing institutional investors.
Valuation: unknown
Longevity-Aligned Disease Modification (Category 2)
Immutrin – US$ 87M (£65M) (Series A) | Cambridge, UK
What they do: Developing next-generation antibody therapies designed to deplete systemic amyloid deposits and reverse amyloidosis, with a lead program targeting ATTR (transthyretin) cardiomyopathy — a serious and progressive form of heart disease caused by misfolded protein aggregation.
Why it matters: Protein misfolding and amyloid accumulation are hallmarks of aging. ATTR cardiomyopathy is increasingly recognized as an underdiagnosed cause of heart failure in older adults. Immutrin’s approach to clearing existing amyloid deposits, rather than merely preventing new ones, could represent a breakthrough in reversing age-related organ damage.
Investors: Led by Frazier Life Sciences and F-Prime; joined by Qiming Venture Partners, SR One, Cambridge Innovation Capital and Cambridge Enterprise Ventures.
Valuation: unknown
Crossbow Therapeutics – US$ 77M (Series B) | USA
What they do: Developing next-generation T-cell engagers targeting peptide human leukocyte antigens (pHLA) on myeloid cancer cells, with lead candidate CBX-250 in Phase 1 for acute myeloid leukemia, CML, myelodysplastic syndromes, and chronic myelomonocytic leukemia.
Why it matters: Cancer is one of the most prevalent age-related diseases. T-cell engagers represent a new class of immunotherapy that could provide more tolerable treatments for blood cancers — critical for extending both lifespan and quality of life in aging populations.
Investors: Taiho Ventures, Arkin Bio Capital, Sixty Degree Capital, MPM BioImpact, Pfizer Ventures, BVF Partners, Polaris Partners, Eli Lilly, and others.
Valuation: unknown
R1 Therapeutics – US$ 77.5M (Series A) | Redwood City, USA
What they do: Advancing a first-in-class pan-phosphate transporter inhibitor (AP306) for patients with chronic kidney disease on dialysis who suffer from hyperphosphatemia — elevated phosphorus levels that cause bone and cardiovascular disease.
Why it matters: Chronic kidney disease is strongly age-associated, and hyperphosphatemia in dialysis patients accelerates vascular calcification and bone disease. AP306 is the only agent that blocks the “active” transport of phosphate, potentially offering superior efficacy with significantly lower pill burden compared to 60-year-old phosphate binder therapies — a meaningful improvement for older patients.
Investors: Led by Abingworth, F-Prime Capital and DaVita Venture Group; joined by Curie.Bio, SymBiosis and U.S. Renal Care.
Valuation: unknown
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📰 Top longevity business news
ARPA-H commits US$ 144M to prove aging can be treated — Cambrian Bio receives US$ 30.8M — The U.S. government launched its PROSPR program, the most significant public bet yet on healthspan extension. Cambrian Bio was awarded $30.8M to advance a novel mTORC1-selective rapamycin analog; Linnaeus Therapeutics received $22M for repurposed oncology compounds. (Cambrian Bio)
Celularity pivots fully to longevity with US$ 35M license deal — Celularity (NASDAQ: CELU) licensed its biomaterials portfolio for up to $35M and will concentrate all resources on placental-derived cell therapies targeting cellular senescence, chronic inflammation, and tissue degeneration. (Longevity.Technology)
Eli Lilly & Roche commit nearly US$ 1B to South Korea as longevity hub — Lilly signed a $500M MoU with South Korea’s Ministry of Health to expand Lilly Gateway Labs for biotech startups in collaboration with Samsung Biologics. Combined with Roche’s $480M commitment, nearly $1B is flowing into South Korea’s longevity ecosystem. (Longevity.Technology)
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🗓 Events & meetups (Europe-only)
(ES) 4th Longevity World Forum (Feb 18-20, 2026) ✅
(CZ) Aging and Longevity Conference (Apr 9-10, 2026)
(UK) 5th Longevity Med Summit (May 9-10, 2026)
(IT) Milan Longevity Summit (May 20-23, 2026)
(VA) Vatican Longevity Summit (May 25-26, 2026)
(DE) LIFE Summit Berlin (May 29-30, 2026)
(LT) Healthy Ageing & Longevity Assembly Lithuania (Jun 8-14, 2026)
(NL) HLTH Europe Amsterdam (Jun 15-18, 2026)
(CZ) 8th World Aging & Rejuvenation Conference (Jun 18-19, 2026)
(IE) Longevity Summit Dublin (Jun 24-26, 2026)
(UK) The Longevity Show (Jun 26-27, 2026)
(DE) POLLY Longevity Festival Frankfurt (Aug 21-23, 2026)
💼 New Longevity jobs (Europe-only)
You have an open position? Let us know!
👉 To see the full list of all Longevity jobs, visit our Job Board.
Keep building the future of longevity - one week at a time.
Fabian
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