The Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF) brought together government, nonprofit, venture capital and industry investors starting in 2015 with the goal of funding early-stage development of disease-modifying therapies for all forms of dementia. With fundraising complete at £250m ($350m), the DDF may be able to fund even more dementia-focused start-ups than originally planned.
Finance Watch: Dementia Discovery Fund Exceeds Fundraising Goal By $150m
Private Company Edition: The Dementia Discovery Fund started in 2015 with plans to raise $200m to fund early-stage development of disease-modifying drugs, but recently closed its fundraising with $350m in commitments. Also, Kaleido's $101m Series C is among three recent $100m-plus rounds.

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The four-year-old firm said it plans to advance programs toward the clinic from the funding round, which comes just over a year after signing two major pharma partnerships.
Private Company Edition: The latest group of drug developers to announce venture capital financings is remarkable for its geographic diversity, from Character Biosciences’ $93m series B round in the US to Augustine’s $85m series B in Belgium to a $29.2m series C for Aculys in Japan.
Kyoto-based venture moves HQ to California to expand R&D and business outreach for its regulatory T-cell technology, as it raises around $46m in public and private funding.
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Supply chain disruption fears at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic caused drug over-ordering. Imminent tariffs on drugs may have had a similar effect on pharma sales in Q1 earnings season.
Stock prices plummeted, particularly for vaccine makers and cell and gene therapy developers, after the US FDA’s top biologics overseer resigned over vaccine misinformation concerns.
Seeking cell therapy approaches to cure type 1 diabetes, Vertex abandons a candidate encapsulated to avoid immune system detection but hopes to file another candidate for approval in 2026.