Early-stage research gains another funding boost
pharmafile | March 23, 2012 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | GSK, Index Ventures, Janssen, R&D
GlaxoSmithKline and Janssen are among the key investors in a venture capital fund aimed solely at identifying promising pharma start-ups.
Run by Index Ventures, the €150 million life sciences fund (called Index Life VI) is intended to stimulate early-stage programmes in Europe and the US.
This is yet more positive news for early-stage start-ups, after the Wellcome Trust said it would invest £200 million into the British biotech sector earlier this week.
Members of both pharma companies will be on the nine-member scientific advisory board (SAB) of the fund, although Index will have the final say over investments. GSK and Janssen are said to be ‘committing substantial resources’.
Launched in 1996, Index specialises in putting money into technology and biotechnology ventures and favours companies with just one or two projects – a so-called ‘asset centric’ approach.
The company has offices in London, Geneva, Jersey and San Francisco and tends to invest in technology which has first- or best-in-class status and addresses unmet need.
The goal is to pick ideas which could be global leaders tomorrow and get in early with investment to help the company grow; financing the discovery of molecules which become part of late stage clinical pharmaceutical pipelines.
For the pharma industry, such funds represent one of several business models – the most obvious being acquisition – by which companies can benefit from other firms’ ideas.
“This unique collaboration shows our commitment to the biotech ecosystem and to continuously pursuing creative new ways to access groundbreaking new science,” said Moncef Slaoui, R&D chairman at GSK.
“We believe Index is well positioned to create an exciting pipeline of drug candidates,” Slaoui added.
Supporting and nurturing start-ups and encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation will be good for the entire industry, insists Paul Stoffels, chairman of the pharma group at Janssen owner Johnson & Johnson.
“Partnerships like this one with Index Ventures and its ‘asset centric’ platform will enable us to enhance the probability of identifying early stage technologies in disease areas of high unmet need,” he added.
The SAB will include Slaoui and Stoffels, as well as Paul-Peter Tak, head of GSK’s immunoinflammation therapy area unit and Janssen’s Bill Hait, global head of R&D.
Index has been involved in financing companies such as PanGenetics (acquired by Abbott Laboratories) and Micromet (bought by Amgen).
Adam Hill
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