Discover Our Journey
Founded in 2017, Anaveon is on an exciting and fast-paced journey: the company has successfully taken a next-generation interleukin-2 (IL-2) immunotherapy into human trials, with 146 million CHF in funding, extensive in-house laboratory capabilities and a team of experts in both drug discovery and development.
Co-Founder and CEO
Andreas Katopodis
Immunology Origins
Anaveon co-founder and CEO Andreas Katopodis has spent more than 25 years in the pharmaceutical industry, including 21 years as Director in the Autoimmunity, Transplantation & Inflammation group at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research.
During his time there, Andreas collaborated with Onur Boyman, a professor at the University of Zurich, whose research was focused on cytokines, specifically IL-2. Together, they developed antibodies that target specifically IL-2 on immune effector cells, developing them into potential cancer treatments.
Taking the Next Step:
Founding Anaveon®
The team at Anaveon believed in the potential of the compounds they had developed and the project was licensed from Novartis and the University of Zurich.
They co-founded Anaveon in 2017 in Switzerland, with a focus on taking the drug into clinical trials.
Securing Funding to Develop a Cancer Treatment
With support from the Novartis Venture Fund, Anaveon secured funding rapidly after the foundation of the Company, receiving 1 million CHF from the University of Zurich Life Sciences fund, enabling the team to start the manufacturing process. BaseLaunch followed with a non-dilutive grant.
In 2019, Anaveon concluded a Series A financing round and raised 35 million CHF, with Syncona as the lead investor and the Novartis Venture Fund also contributing. With a state-of-the-art laboratory and a dedicated team of experts, and in June 2021 Anaveon successfully dosed the first patient in a Phase 1 / 2 open label study of ANV419. In 2021, an additional series B financing raised further 110 million CHF funding.
Anaveon’s pipeline includes programs that leverage targeted cytokines for a range of immune-mediated diseases.