Our continued investment in Healx: leveraging AI to advance rare disease treatments
Atomico is doubling down on our initial partnership with Healx, the AI-enabled clinical-stage biotech company specialising in treatments for rare diseases, to co-lead their $47m Series C today. This brings Healx’s total capital raised to $115 million.
With this latest investment, Healx will continue to expand its leading AI platform and advance the company’s pipeline of medicines in rare diseases, having recently received the US FDA investigational new drug (IND) status . Healx will now start its Phase 2 clinical trial for its lead program for the treatment of rare genetic disorder neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1) and has over 20 other assets in its pipeline.
Founded in Cambridge in 2014 by Tim Guilliams, Ph.D and David Brown, Ph.D, Healx harnesses AI to increase speed and efficiency of the R&D process for discovering new treatments for rare diseases. Remarkably, the commercial model for traditional drug discovery takes 12–15 years with a price tag of between $2–3bn, and a failure rate of 95%. There are approximately 7,000 rare diseases in the world, with 400 million people impacted - half of which are children. Many of these can be chronic or life threatening. Only 5% have a treatment. They are also commercially relevant - the NF1 market alone represents $16B in revenue potential, with the opportunity for a successful asset to command $1Bn+ in revenues.
It’s always been our conviction that technology can solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges, and that AI will open up incredible possibilities in biology. Healx is the perfect example of this. It is why we’ve been alongside Tim and David since 2019 when we first partnered with them to lead their Series B.
Sitting behind all of this progress is Healnet - Healx’s proprietary novel AI drug discovery engine that combines deep scientific expertise and extensive proprietary data, and allows the team to move towards clinical trials 80% faster, 80–90% cheaper and with a greater chance of success than conventional drug discovery methods. Beyond the statistics, beyond the lab, and beyond the regulators, this approach can change - and save - lives.
The FDA approval that Healx has just secured is significant news for those living with NF1, which is a rare genetic disorder affecting 1 in 2,500 people. Patients with NF1 develop multiple benign and malignant tumours that grow along nerves and can cause pain and disfigurement, reducing life expectancy and quality of life. Right now there is only one treatment option available for some children, but that treatment can cause serious heart, eye and skin complications. Using AI, Healx has developed HLX-1502, a tablet that works differently, and offers a new option for patients with potential for much less side effects.
In addition, Healx are also working on other rare diseases with significant unmet needs, including other nerve-related tumours, renal and neurodevelopmental disorders. Their underlying technology platform allows them to do that with significantly higher time and capital efficiency than the traditional approaches.
We’re exceptionally proud of what Tim, David and the team at Healx have achieved so far and we’re humbled to be part of their next chapter.
