WXPRESS Interview with Forbion General Partner Marco Boorsma, PhD

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.

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.

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.