Bird & Bird advises the Dementia Discovery Fund on its investment into Amphista Therapeutics

The DDF is a specialist venture capital fund, managed by SV Health Managers, that invests in, and creates, new biotech companies delivering transformational therapeutics for dementia. The DDF is backed by leading pharmaceutical companies (Biogen, Eli Lilly and Co., GSK, Johnson & Johnson, Otsuka (Astex), Pfizer and Takeda), along with AARP, Aegon, Bill Gates, British Patient Capital, NFL Players Association, Quest Diagnostics, UnitedHealth Group, the UK Government’s Department of Health and Social Care, and the charity Alzheimer’s Research UK.

Amphista is a leader in identifying and advancing next generation targeted protein degradation (TPD) approaches to develop a new generation of innovative therapies with significantly improved efficacy. The investment is in recognition of the progress made in relation to Amphista’s Eclipsys™ platform and its potential to enable therapies to treat diseases of the central nervous system, with a focus on neurodegeneration.

The investment will enable Amphista to accelerate the application of its technology into indications largely inaccessible using traditional TPD approaches and will enable further pre-clinical development with a focus on diseases of the central nervous system, particularly dementia.

The Bird & Bird team was led by James Baillieu (partner, Corporate) and included Adam Meisels (senior associate, Corporate) and Dean Rae (associate, Corporate), Sally Shorthose (partner, Intellectual Property and co-head of International Life Sciences Regulatory Group), Pieter Erasmus (associate, Intellectual Property and member of International Life Sciences Regulatory Group) and Penny Hunt (legal director, Employment).

James Baillieu, partner in the Corporate practice at Bird & Bird comments: “We were delighted to support DDF on this exciting transaction which is a fantastic example of the excellent work carried out by our life sciences and venture capital practices.”