June 1, 2021

Pioneering a new approach to drug discovery

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JIMCO Life Sciences Fund & Abdul Latif Jameel Health participate in Cellarity US$ 123m Series B funding to pioneer a new approach to drug discovery

Cellarity launched in 2017, within Flagship Labs to create drugs which treat disease by changing the way cells behave, rather than targeting specific molecular targets
Founded in 2020, Abdul Latif Jameel Health was created as a response to the ongoing global disparity in access to modern medical care, most notably across emerging economies of the developing world
The JIMCO Life Sciences Fund, is a dedicated fund of the Jameel Investment Management Company actively investing in innovative, early-stage and breakthrough ventures and technology, aiming to positively shape the future of health.

The Jameel Investment Management Company (JIMCO), the global investment arm of the Jameel Family, confirmed that it is one of the investors in the recent US$ 123 million Series B funding round for Cellarity – an American life sciences company founded by Flagship Pioneering in 2017, to develop a new method of drug discovery targeting cell behavior.

The contribution to the round from JIMCO’s dedicated JIMCO Life Sciences Fund, sits alongside those from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, The Baupost Group, Banque Pictet together with other investors, and Flagship Pioneering. This initial investment is part of the ongoing strategic vision in collaboration with Abdul Latif Jameel Health to pursue targeted Investments in breakthrough thinking and emergent health technologies that will enable more globally inclusive healthcare through accelerating access to modern medical therapies for those who need it most.

Akram Bouchenaki, Chief Executive Officer, Abdul Latif Jameel Health, said: “Our mission is to partner and support innovators within the medical world that are disrupting existing practices and pushing for wider availability of healthcare throughout the world.

“The synergy with Cellarity and their breakthrough thinking are clear to Abdul Latif Jameel Health team, and our contribution to helping pioneer this new approach to drug discovery is aligned with the values of our business and the Jameel family.”

Cellarity’s medicines are developed to address disease at the level of the cell and are not aimed at single molecular targets, the approach pursued in many traditional drug discoveries.

“We are entering a new era of network biology with the ability to deeply understand cellular processes and to create medicines with much more predictability and intentionality,” said Fabrice Chouraqui, CEO-Partner, Flagship Pioneering and CEO, Cellarity.

“Cellarity’s platform, combining biology, computation and technology represents a dramatic rearchitecting of the current drug discovery paradigm toward this cell-centric approach.”

More Information

JIMCO

JIMCO (Jameel Investment Management Company) is the global investment arm of the Jameel family. JIMCO actively invests in innovative, early-stage and breakthrough ventures and technology, aiming to positively shape the future of core industries driving the global economy.

Through two dedicated funds, JIMCO Life Sciences and the JIMCO Technology Fund, the Company’s investments span medical and healthcare industries, from pharmaceuticals and vaccines to cutting-edge medical technology, along with emergent technologies across fintech, insurtech, electric vehicles and future mobility solutions.

Abdul Latif Jameel Health

Abdul Latif Jameel Health reflects the Jameel Family’s long-established commitment to innovating for a better future through Community Jameel, an international organization supporting science and technology-led solutions to global challenges. Community Jameel and MIT co-founded the Abdul Latif Jameel Clinic for Machine Learning in Health (Jameel Clinic) in September 2018 – which has rapidly become the very epicenter of AI and healthcare at MIT – and the Abdul Latif Jameel Institute for Disease and Emergency Analytics (Jameel Institute) co-founded with Imperial College London, in October 2019, using novel data analytics to reduce global risk of preventable disease strengthening health systems in the most fragile settings.

Abdul Latif Jameel Health takes this commitment into the commercial environment addressing tangible real-world needs. It is focused on health care inclusion in the global south, accelerating access to modern medical care for those who need it most by opening up/growing new markets for distribution of existing solutions and investing in the future of MedTech.

Cellarity

Cellarity’s mission is to bring breakthrough medicines to patients by completely redefining the way drugs are discovered.

Founded by Flagship Pioneering in 2017, Cellarity is designing medicines against the cell as opposed to a single molecular target. The Company has developed a unique combination of expertise across system and network biology, high-resolution data, and machine learning to unlock treatments in a large number of therapeutic areas.

For more information, visit: cellarity.com

For media enquiries, please contact: Kent Holland: +1 917 561-9684 / cellaritymedia@kivvit.com

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