编者按:去年,荷兰风险投资机构Forbion通过两支新基金完成逾20亿欧元募资,创下该机构迄今最大规模的融资纪录。这笔资金预计将用于支持约30家企业,加速创新生物技术公司的成长,为全球患者带来具有深远影响的疗法。作为Forbion的普通合伙人,Marco Boorsma博士在制定公司生物技术投资战略方面发挥着关键作用。近日,我们与Marco Boorsma博士展开对话,凭借其发现和培育突破性科学成果方面的深厚经验,他分享了对衰老相关治疗创新领域的重大机遇与现实挑战的独到见解。
Boorsma博士在生物医药行业拥有超过20年的丰富经验,兼具深厚的学术背景与广泛的产业实践。在其职业历程中,他曾主导创立VectorY Therapeutics并担任创始首席执行官,同时成功孵化NorthSea Therapeutics、Oxitope Pharma、Dezima Pharma等多家创新企业。其中,Dezima Pharma被安进(Amgen)以最高15亿美元收购。目前,Boorsma博士仍活跃于产业前沿,担任Calluna Pharma、Orbis Medicines等多家生物技术公司的董事会成员。
Boorsma博士,祝贺Forbion在去年完成了迄今规模最大的基金募集!回顾过去近一年的进展,是否可以分享一些值得关注的里程碑?
Marco Boorsma博士:这一路走来,成果丰硕,我们深感自豪。在过去一年中,我们已投资至少10家具有发展潜力的新兴企业,稳步落实资金规划,这与我们在未来两年至两年半内通过成长基金和风险基金支持约30家企业的规划一致。更为充裕的资金使我们及被投企业能够主导更大规模的融资轮次。如今,超过1亿美元的单轮融资已屡见不鲜,而在我的职业生涯早期,2000万至2500万美元的融资规模才是常态。通过组织更大规模的联合融资,我们能为企业提供从资本注入、董事会指导、生产优化、临床经验分享,到监管咨询及运营指导等全方位的建设资源。目前,我们的投资组合已涵盖超过40家企业。我们有充分的信心,能够助力企业高效运营。在我们所投资的公司中,多家企业在临床开发、监管推进以及业务拓展方面不断达到重大里程碑。
在投资中,您如何平衡前沿机制研究带来的高风险和高回报,与在较短周期内推动疗法落地的需求?
Marco Boorsma博士:这对风险投资人和基金管理人而言是个重要的问题。我们始终从基金整体配置的角度出发,在投资布局上进行平衡:一方面支持相对成熟、已有验证数据的项目;另一方面布局具有高影响力的前沿科学探索。对于风险更高的项目,我们采用与预先约定的转化里程碑挂钩的阶段性投资机制,并依据临床前模型有效性、可重复的体内数据、早期安全性及药代动力学(PK)数据,以及初步临床数据等因素进行评估。明确的“继续/终止”决策机制至关重要,一旦项目进展未达预期,我们会果断停止投入,将资金转投至更具潜力的企业。此外,我们通过运营支持降低企业在运行和执行层面的风险。
在研发层面,我们始终着眼于终局:明确从药物发现到获批上市的整体路径,并在项目早期就遵循监管指南要求。具体而言,首先,在早期研究中采用与人类生理相关、可产生量化结果的实验体系;同时,投入资源开发可衔接临床前与临床研究阶段的转化生物标志物,并倡导使用类器官等人源模型。其次,我们高度重视药物CMC的可交付性,确保药物能够以合理成本进行规模化生产。在团队架构方面,我们从项目启动阶段就组建包含生物学家、转化医学专家、监管顾问及生产工艺专家的多学科团队。此外,项目早期需注重避免研发中的常见误区:例如过度依赖单一且缺乏转化价值的传统动物模型,延用便利但无法有效预测人体反应的检测方法,或是推迟对临床终点的讨论。需要强调的是,所设定的监管终点必须从一开始就具备明确的临床意义。
图片来源:123RF
随着老龄化成为全球化大趋势,您认为哪些领域最有可能率先产生变革性疗法?
Marco Boorsma博士:许多常见疾病都与衰老相关,例如阿尔茨海默病、代谢性疾病、纤维化疾病以及心血管疾病等。在神经退行性疾病领域,如今我们已能够更有效地靶向其根本生物学机制进行干预,几十年来首批治疗阿尔茨海默病的新药已获批准,但仍有大量挑战有待攻克。人工智能将推动神经退行性疾病、肾脏疾病及代谢疾病领域加速取得突破。得益于GLP-1类药物及肥胖相关研究的进展,代谢疾病领域已取得实质性进展并备受瞩目,预计不久将迎来重大突破。免疫衰老领域虽已初现曙光,但真正惠及患者尚需时间。总体而言,某些领域的突破已近在眼前,有些尚处于中期发展阶段,另一些则虽需更长时间但前景可期。
我们将持续聚焦于新兴生物学机制的探索,尽管过去三年阿尔茨海默病等领域取得了重大进展,但仍有大量工作需要推进。肌萎缩侧索硬化(ALS)、帕金森病以及其他中枢神经系统衰老相关疾病领域也面临着类似局面。作为投资者,我们的目标是确保优秀的科研成果能够转化为可行的药物。更充裕的资金使我们有能力参与更大规模的融资轮次,为企业提供足够资金支持,助其达到重要临床里程碑。这一原则不仅适用于衰老领域企业,也适用于我们的整个投资组合。从企业构建角度来看,基于创新生物学机制的药物开发往往需要更长的研发周期和更多的资金投入。与以往的早期基金相比,如今我们已具备更强大的能力,可为这类需要长期投入的创新项目提供更有力的支持。
2022年,您曾在药明康德健康老龄化论坛上分享了关于应对衰老相关疾病的下一代前沿技术的洞见。此后这些前沿领域出现了哪些新进展?当前最具突破性的机遇又在哪里?
Marco Boorsma博士:这一领域已逐渐分化出两个相对清晰的方向。一方面,近期转化项目更聚焦于纤维化、肾脏疾病、代谢紊乱等领域中已获验证的疾病特异性生物学机制,以及部分神经系统靶点。另一方面,更早期的机制性衰老生物学研究则侧重于免疫重塑、表观遗传“时钟”及全身性代谢调控。在这些复杂疾病领域,具备转化潜力的生物标志物正不断积累,能够更精准指引药物开发的预测模型也逐渐建立。我们的策略是将企业构建与资本增长相结合,在上述两大方向的早期阶段同步布局。
图片来源:123RF
当前最具突破性的机遇,在于将机制性衰老生物学研究成果转化为改变疾病进程的疗法。实现这一目标,仍需要众多科研人员、药物开发团队以及像我们这样的投资者共同投入大量工作。例如,研究人员正在探索清除衰老细胞以延长人类健康寿命的方法,研究老年人群的全身代谢状态,并针对多器官纤维化病变展开攻关。这些领域不仅充满机遇,也以大胆创新的方式推动着新型疗法的诞生。
随着老龄化成为全球范围内的重要议题,您如何看待当前衰老相关研发工作的优势与不足?Forbion如何确定自身在国际格局中的定位?
Marco Boorsma博士:欧洲拥有生物学研究底蕴深厚的学术中心、优秀的小分子及生物制品化学与生产团队,以及日益完善的转化基础设施和临床试验中心。欧洲在推动前沿科学研究方面也取得了显著进展,例如,在衰老及更广泛的药物研发领域,人工智能如今在药物发现、靶点验证乃至高效评估商业计划等方面都发挥着重要作用。
然而,短板仍然存在。例如,目前仍缺乏标准化且经过验证的生物标志物,尤其是在衰老研究领域。我们需要与生物学年龄相关的生物标志物来有效开展临床试验。此外,一些新型疗法需精准递送到衰老大脑的特定区域,而相关生产能力仍需进一步提升。不仅如此,我们还需要将科研成果成功转化为药物研发企业。
图片来源:123RF
Forbion通过广泛的顾问、科学家、前医药高管及学者网络,为企业提供运营支持。我们在规模化生产、临床开发及CMC、以及主导更大规模的融资轮次方面为企业提供指导,并长期陪伴企业成长,降低执行风险、提高成功率。随着Forbion规模与业务版图的扩展(尤其是在波士顿的布局),我们聚焦投资兼具顶尖科研与执行团队的地区,并在欧洲和北美地区提供本地化运营支持。在适当的情况下,我们会与美国顶尖的基金共同投资,并运用自身在企业建设方面的经验,帮助欧洲的创新成果降低进入全球市场的风险。更大规模的基金可提升后续投资能力,并加速企业规模扩张。我们还与中国医药企业开展合作,在北美与欧洲地区开发高质量项目,并取得良好成效。
展望未来,您认为十年后健康老龄化的讨论会继续围绕当今的挑战,还是会出现全新的议题?
Marco Boorsma博士:长寿固然可贵,但生命质量才是关键。健康老龄化的核心,是在延长寿命的同时保持良好的生活质量。Forbion始终聚焦于以疾病为导向、以患者为中心的治疗理念:有效治疗疾病自然会延长寿命。因此,我们致力于攻克那些限制寿命并影响生活质量的疾病,确保人们能够健康地老去。
我期望当今的许多疾病在十年后能够被有效治疗。尽管由于生活方式和人口老龄化的影响,目前许多重大疾病,如纤维化、神经退行性疾病和代谢性疾病在未来仍将继续存在,但我认为未来将转向基于经过验证的生物学年龄标志物和个体化风险评分的精准健康老龄化模式。针对衰老这一多维问题的联合治疗方案,以及药物递送系统的进步将使干预措施更具可及性。人工智能将处于这一变革的核心,加速创新进程并优化临床试验设计。尽管核心临床挑战仍将存在,但诊疗工具、监管框架和患者分层将更加精细化。Forbion也将继续从早期阶段到商业化全程支持创新科学的发展。
Advancing Age-Related Therapies: A Conversation with Dr. Marco Boorsma, General Partner, Forbion
Editor’s Note: Last year, the Netherlands-based venture capital firm Forbion closed more than €2 billion across two new funds, its largest raise to date. The capital is expected to back roughly 30 portfolio companies, accelerating innovative biotechs and advancing impactful therapies for patients worldwide. Dr. Marco Boorsma, General Partner at Forbion, has been instrumental in shaping the firm’s biotech investment strategy. With deep experience in identifying and nurturing breakthrough science, he shares his perspective on the bold opportunities and the hard realities shaping age-related therapeutic innovation.
Marco, congratulations on closing your largest fund to date last year. Looking back almost 12 months later, what exciting progress and milestones can you share with us?
Marco Boorsma: It has been a ride, and we are very proud. In the last 12 months, we've invested in at least 10 new promising companies, putting meaningful capital to work. This aligns with our plan to finance about 30 companies from the growth and venture funds over the next two to two and a half years. Larger pools of capital help us and the companies to lead larger financing rounds. Today, $100 million-plus financing rounds are not unheard of. When I was younger, rounds of $20-25 million were the standard. We can now syndicate larger rounds and provide more company-building resources, including capital, board support, manufacturing, clinical experience, regulatory advice, and operational guidance. With a current portfolio of over 40 companies, we believe we can help run companies effectively. On the portfolio front, we continue to see great milestone cadence across companies advancing through clinical and regulatory paths, along with significant business development activities. We have celebrated several major exits from prior funds, which underpins investor confidence.
How do you balance investing in high-risk, high-reward mechanisms with the need to deliver tangible therapies in the near term?
Marco Boorsma: That's a great question for a venture capital investor and fund manager. We operate from a fund perspective, balancing investments in advanced, validated opportunities with bold, high-impact science. To manage higher-risk investments, we use stage-gated funding tied to pre-agreed translational milestones, based on preclinical models, reproducible in vivo signals, early safety PK, and early clinical data. Strong go/no-go decisions are crucial. If something doesn’t work, we cut it and focus our capital on more promising companies. Operational support helps de-risk operations and execution.
From an R&D perspective, we focus on the endgame. Where does this program need to go from discovery to approval, following regulatory guidelines early on. Funnel experiments to human-relevant, quantitative readouts early. Invest in translational biomarkers that link preclinical and clinical stages, ideally using human-derived assays like organoids. Prioritize CMC deliverability. Ensure the drug can be produced at scale and at the right cost. Assemble cross-functional teams from the start, including biologists, translational medicine experts, regulatory advisors, and manufacturing expertise. Early priorities include over-reliance on a single legacy animal model that’s not translational, sticking to convenient but non-predictive assays, and deferring endpoint discussions. Regulatory endpoints must align with clinical meaningfulness early on.
Source:123RF
As aging becomes a megatrend, which areas do you think are closest to yielding transformative therapies?
Marco Boorsma: Many common diseases are related to aging, such as Alzheimer’s, metabolic and fibrotic diseases, and cardiovascular diseases. Neurodegenerative diseases now target underlying disease biology more effectively, with the first drugs for Alzheimer’s approved in decades. But there's still much to do. AI will enable faster strides in neurodegenerative diseases, kidney, and metabolic diseases. With significant advancements and interest in metabolic diseases, thanks to GLPs and obesity-related research, big strides are expected soon. Immune aging shows early promise but will take longer to benefit patients. So, some areas are around the corner, others mid-term, and some further out but exciting.
For us, we continue to look into new biology because for diseases like Alzheimer’s, despite great strides in the past three years, there's still a lot to do. The same goes for ALS, Parkinson’s, and other aging diseases of the central nervous system. As investors, we need to ensure that great science results in viable drugs. Larger funds enable us to join bigger rounds and give companies the financial runway to reach meaningful clinical milestones. This applies not only to aging companies but across our portfolio. In company building, novel biology requires longer development times and more capital. Now, we can fund these endeavors much better than historically with our earlier funds.
In 2022, you spoke on our Healthy Aging Forum, sharing your insights on the next frontiers in tackling age-related disorders. How have those frontiers evolved since, and where is the boldest opportunity now?
Marco Boorsma: The field has evolved in two distinctive branches. Near-term translational programs target more validated disease-specific biology in diseases like fibrosis, kidney disease, metabolic disorders, and some neuro targets. Meanwhile, earlier mechanistic aging biology approaches focus on immune remodeling, epigenetic clocks, and systemic metabolism. These complex diseases are steadily accumulating translationally relevant biomarkers and better models to predict where to go in drug development. Our playbook combines company building and growth capital, operating across both branches at the earliest stages.
Source:123RF
The boldest opportunity now lies in translating mechanistic aging biology into disease-modifying medicines. There's still a lot of work to be done, involving many researchers, developers, and funders like us. For example, researchers are exploring ways to eliminate senescent cells to increase the human healthspan, examining the systemic metabolic state of aging people, and targeting fibrotic conditions in various organs. These areas are rich in opportunity and bold in their approach to finding novel treatments.
As aging becomes a global priority, how do you perceive the current strengths and gaps in aging-related R&D? How does Forbion think about positioning itself within this international landscape?
Marco Boorsma: Here in Europe, we have deep biology expertise at academic centers, excellent small molecule and biologics chemistry, manufacturing groups, and growing translational infrastructure and clinical sites. Europe is also making great strides in developing interesting science. For example, in aging and broader drug development, AI now plays a significant role in drug discovery, target validation, and even assessing business plans efficiently.
However, gaps remain, such as the lack of standardized validated biomarkers, especially in aging. We need biomarkers related to biological age to execute clinical trials efficiently. Certain new treatments are needed to reach specific parts of the aging brain, and manufacturing capacity for these treatments needs to be developed further. Also, we need to translate the science into drug development companies.
Forbion contributes operationally by helping companies with an extended network of advisors, scientists, ex-pharma executives, and academics. We guide companies on scaling, clinical, and CMC, leading larger financing rounds, and being there for the long term to reduce execution risk and increase the probability of success. With our growing company and footprint, notably our Boston presence, we invest where the best science and execution teams are, providing local operating support in Europe and North America. We co-invest with leading US funds when appropriate and leverage our company-building DNA to de-risk European innovation for global markets. Larger funds enable greater follow-on capacity and faster scaling. We’ve also collaborated with Chinese pharma companies, developing high-quality programs in North America and Europe, which has been fruitful.
Looking at the future, 10 years from now, will the conversation around healthy aging still revolve around today's challenges, or do you foresee entirely new issues emerging?
Marco Boorsma: Longevity is great, but quality of life is key. Healthy aging is about extending lifespan while maintaining good quality of life. Forbion's focus remains on disease-focused, patient-focused treatments. Treating diseases effectively will naturally extend lifespan. We invest in addressing diseases that limit lifespan and impact quality of life, ensuring that people age healthily.
I wish today's diseases could be treatable in 10 years. Many current priorities like fibrosis, neurodegenerative diseases, and metabolic diseases will still be there due to lifestyle factors and an aging population. But I expect a shift towards precision healthy aging, based on validated biomarkers of biological age, and individualized risk scores. Combination treatments addressing aging as a multi-axis problem and advancements in delivery systems will make interventions more accessible. AI will centralize this evolution, speeding up innovation and refining clinical trial designs. The core clinical problems remain, but tools, regulatory frameworks, and patient stratification will be more sophisticated. Forbion will continue to support innovative science from early stages to commercialization.
参考资料:
[1] A Trailblazer in Neuroscience and Biotech Leadership. Retrieved JNovember 4, 2025, from https://www.targetals.org/2025/03/28/a-trailblazer-in-neuroscience-and-biotech-leadership/
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