Pfizer Backs VitaDAO’s $4.1M Funding for Decentralized Science – Ledger Insights
Today, VitaDAO announced that it raised $4.1 million in tokens from Pfizer Ventures, Shine Capital, L1 Digital, and several other web3 and decentralized science organizations. One of the investors is Balaji Srinivasan former Coinbase CTO and a16z partner. VitaDAO, as the name implies, is structured as a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) where token holders vote on the governance and project it funds. It aims to help biotech startups find funding, especially for longevity research.
An example of the type of project VitaDAO funds is €30,000 for Mantis Photonics. It is developing a hyperspectral camera to enable early screening of Alzheimer’s through retinal scans before symptoms begin. A central feature of Alzheimer’s is amyloid beta plaques that build up in the brain. Recent studies indicate that these plaques appear on the retina before the cognitive decline is noticed.
To date, VitaDAO says it has funded $3.5 million in research. Apart from providing funding, the intellectual property (IP) from research is tokenized on the VitaDAO blockchain as IP-NFTs. And it is spinning out new biotech companies.
Pfizer’s interest
On Linkedin, Michael Baran, a partner at Pfizer Ventures, wrote today, “VitaDAO is essentially an accelerator that aims to bridge the Valley (of) Death between academic biotechnology and commercialization. Our interest lies not only in the validation of this new model, but also as a tool to identify and reject early projects in the field of age-related disease.”
Aside from funding, VitaDAO described Pfizer’s role as including dealflow, scientific evaluation, incubation and commercialization.
Last August, Pfizer sent a proposal to the VitaDAO board to commit $500,000. Pfizer described VitaDAO as “democratizing scientific development with longevity and ultimately bringing medicines to patients. In addition, the Decentralized Science (DeSci) movement also represents a nascent opportunity to transform the traditional business of science via the convergence of cutting-edge science, business, law and technology.”
It added, “We are very intrigued by the scientific reach of VitaDAO and the democratic governance enabled by the DAO approach. Early IP development funding is a phase of drug development that has historically been underfunded by government grants, VC investment and other traditional means of financing.”
Pfizer is also part of two of the significant pharma blockchain initiatives, US-based MediLedger and the European consortium Pharmaledger.
