Foundation Venture Capital Group, a New Jersey Health Foundation affiliate, has sold its equity interest in Longevica Pharmaceuticals to Rostock International.
Longevica, a Princeton, New Jersey-based company, is involved in developing kinase inhibitors that may keep normal cells healthy during chemotherapy or radiation treatments.
Rostock International is a subsidiary of Rostock Group, a Moscow headquartered investment firm focused on investments in technologies that can increase human lifespan and improve quality of life.
“One of the exit strategies of FVCG is to sell our shares in the company in which we have invested to a corporation or other venture capital group that would provide resources to advance research,” says James M. Golubieski (pictured), president of Foundation Venture Capital Group. “Rostock has the ability to commit and invest additional capital to support Longevica research that can take several million dollars to perform the necessary pharmacological and toxicity studies necessary to file an Investigational New Drug Application with the FDA.”
"Longevica’s technology of blocking apoptosis in healthy cells can be a scientific breakthrough that would have numerous applications in both the treatment and prevention of diseases. We believe it also has the potential to extend active lifespan – a perfect fit to Rostock’s mission and goals," says Dmitri Khan of Rostock Group. "We look forward to helping Dr. Ryazanov advance his research further to help him commercialise the technology."
Alexey Ryazanov, founder and president of Longevica, is a professor in the Department of Pharmacology at University of Medicine and Dentistry New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and is a member of The Cancer Institute of New Jersey.
