On a mission to extend healthy lifespan, startup lands $43m to target and eliminate the cells that drive disease and aging.
Longevity biotech Arda Therapeutics has successfully secured $43 million in Series A funding, led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Bio + Health. The company is pioneering a new approach in treating chronic diseases by targeting and depleting the cells that are central to driving disease. Founded and led by former Calico PI, Dr Adam Freund, Arda’s long-term vision extends beyond treating chronic diseases, and the company is also aiming to target aging drivers to extend healthy lifespan.
Arda claims that the standard paradigm of drug development, historically focused on altering disease-associated proteins and signaling pathways, often only leads to incremental benefits, especially in complex chronic diseases. The company seeks to address the root of the problem by eliminating specific pathogenic cells, offering a more direct and potentially transformative solution. Leveraging single-cell data, Arda says its technology can identify these harmful cells with a high degree of precision, targeting them for removal without affecting surrounding healthy tissue.
With an initial focus on chronic diseases such as fibrotic conditions, autoimmune disorders and metabolic diseases, Arda is applying lessons learned from oncology, where therapies targeting specific cell populations, such as chemotherapy and CAR-T cells, have been highly effective. By extending this “oncology toolbox” beyond cancer, Arda aims to revolutionize the treatment of non-malignant chronic conditions.
Targeting drivers of aging
When it comes to aging, Arda hypothesizes that certain biological mechanisms, particularly the hyper-activation of specific cell types, drive multiple aspects of age-related deterioration. By targeting and eliminating these cells, the company believes it may be possible to delay or even reverse some of the key drivers of aging, thereby improving the quality of life in older age. While Arda’s approach shares some conceptual overlap with senolytic therapies, which target senescent cells, the company claims its strategy is broader, seeking to uncover and target a wider array of pathogenic cell states using single-cell data.
“By focusing on the cells at the core of disease, we can develop therapies that are not only more effective, but also have the potential to fundamentally change patient outcomes,” said CEO Freund. “With drug approval rates declining and efficacy improvements stalling, Arda’s strategy to target cells – not pathways – offers a transformative shift in how chronic diseases are treated.”
The technology Arda employs draws on advancements in single-cell sequencing, which allows for the cataloging of individual cells in a tissue and the identification of pathogenic subpopulations responsible for driving disease. By leveraging single-cell biology and computational approaches, the company says its discovery engine can map disease-specific cell states and develop targeted biologics that bind to surface markers on the harmful cells, selectively depleting them.
Arda also announced the appointment of Dr Scott Turner as chief scientific officer, who was instrumental in advancing an anti-fibrotic therapy through a successful Phase 2a study during his time as CSO at Pliant Therapeutics.
In addition to a16z, the latest funding round saw participation from investors including Two Sigma Ventures, Eli Lilly and Company and GV. The funding will help Arda accelerate its lead programs toward clinical trials and expand its platform to address a wider array of diseases.
“Many of our most potent cancer medicines – chemotherapy, CAR-T cells, antibody drug conjugates, T cell engagers, radiopharmaceuticals – fundamentally depend on our ability to identify pathogenic, or bad actor, cell populations and then target them precisely for killing,” said a16z’s Dr Vineeta Agarwala. “Applying the lessons learned from oncology, the Arda team is leveraging cutting-edge, single-cell biology and a deep understanding of the biology of diseases outside cancer to boldly extend the cell clearance paradigm to the treatment of chronic diseases.”
