Hikma Ventures invests in Octave Bioscience, a precision care platform for Multiple Sclerosis and other neurodegenerative diseases
London, UK – 26 July 2023 – Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (Hikma), the multinational pharmaceutical company, announces that its venture capital arm, Hikma Ventures, has invested in Octave Bioscience, the developer of a first-of-its-kind platform to accurately and objectively measure and help manage complex and high-cost neurodegenerative diseases, starting with multiple sclerosis (MS).
Founded by William Hagstrom, CEO, and Melinda Thomas, COO, Octave’s multimodal precision care solution provides comprehensive, objective, and actionable insights that bring scientific clarity to the patient’s disease over time.
“There is an immense unmet need within the MS space with outdated diagnostic tools, a lack of technological advancement, and limited support in addressing neurodegenerative diseases. Octave’s precision care solution is creating a new paradigm, where physicians and patients have a holistic view of a patient, their disease activity, and the impact of treatments on their disease progression,” said Lana Ghanem, Managing Director of Hikma Ventures. “By offering an end-to-end solution which optimizes and personalizes care, Octave is revolutionising the way MS is treated and managed. We’re thrilled to support their important mission, which aligns with Hikma’s role as a leading provider of MS treatments in the Middle East and North Africa.”
“We appreciate Hikma Venture’s thoughtful and collaborative approach in identifying and partnering with companies that have the potential to make a big impact in neurodegenerative diseases with novel digital health solutions,” said William Hagstrom, Founder and CEO of Octave Bioscience. “We share a vision for how digital health can improve patient care and outcomes, and we’re delighted that our partnership with Hikma will help bring our precision medicine solution to more MS patients and expand into other neurodegenerative diseases.”
MS is globally considered to be an important disease area with an underserved population and high unmet need ranging from diagnostics to care management. The challenges of this disease have been devastating and visible through misdiagnosis, difficulties in monitoring disease progression and evaluating the prescribed medication’s efficacy. This has also been reflected in high failure rates for MS R&D clinical trials, which have been notoriously difficult to conduct.
Octave Bioscience will use the proceeds to support their commercialization efforts in MS and to explore expansion opportunities into other neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.