5 Alarm Bio Ltd raises £500K in seed round

Cambridge Angels, Meltwind, o2h Ventures, SyndicateRoom, as well as other angel investors participated in Five Alarm Bio’s (FAB) seed round with support from KPMG Acceleris. Last year, FAB was granted a £360,000 fund from Biomedical Catalyst/Innovate UK to push development of its small molecule inhibitor of extracellular matrix crosslinking, FAB001, as a treatment for chronic wounds. According to CEO Janette Thomas, “5 Alarm Bio was started by three entrepreneurs in 2016.” The trio – director Ann Baker, Sunil Shah of o2h ventures, and William Bains, now CSO – “did the early research then didn’t have any funding then got the grant that kickstarted everything”.

Five Alarm Bio aims to minimise the effects of aging in human fibrotic diseases with a novel small molecule inhibitor that blocks transglutaminase 2 (TG2)-mediated EGGL-crosslinking (?-(?-glutamyl)-lysine) of extracellular matrix proteins.  Preclinical research demonstrated that the compound prolonged the life of model organisms by up to 40%. According to the Cambridge-based company, its approach is based on “a to date unexplored pathway of how age-associated chemical damage accumulates in cells and tissues”.

With the funding, 5 Alarm Bio wants to accelerate its research on its lead programme in chronic wound healing and test, how drug candidates extend the healthy lifespan of human cells and tissues in vitro and explore how they can optimise the molecules to use them as therapeutics for age-related diseases such as arthritis, sarcopenia and Alzheimer’s Disease.

Sunil Shah, Co-founder, Five Alarm Bio, and CEO, o2h Ventures, commented: “FAB is at the forefront of the rapidly growing anti-aging therapeutics industry, with the potential to deliver new drugs that extend our healthy lifespan. We are delighted to have made this investment alongside Meltwind, Cambridge Angels, and SyndicateRoom. The combination of the scientific depth of our CSO, William Bains, alongside the practical execution skills of the CEO, Janette Thomas, provides a great team to discover and develop new drugs for age-associated diseases.”