Index Ventures has launched its first fund solely dedicated to making investments in the life sciences sector.
This EUR150m fund includes investments from several of Index’s largest existing limited partners and two companies, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and the venture capital affiliate of the Janssen pharmaceutical companies of Johnson & Johnson (Janssen).
With this investment in the fund, the two global pharmaceutical companies will share their expertise by participating in the scientific advisory board (SAB) of the fund. Index will maintain full decision making rights to the portfolio companies and the fund rules and procedures will follow previous Index Ventures funds. This unique pharma/venture partnership model is intended to stimulate promising, early-stage R&D innovation. Index’s “asset centric” model focuses on investment in companies with just one or two projects, rather than companies with multiple programs. The fund will consider opportunities across Europe, primarily, but also across the USA, with assets that have first-in-class or best-in-class mechanisms of action and target areas of unmet medical need.
Index Ventures’ Partner, Francesco De Rubertis (pictured), says: “We are delighted by the decision of GlaxoSmithKline and Janssen to participate in this fund. The fact that these two global pharmaceutical leaders are committing substantial resources to seek early-stage opportunities through a pure-play classic Venture Capital fund is a testament to the visionary leadership behind the companies.”
“This unique collaboration shows our commitment to the biotech ecosystem and to continuously pursuing creative new ways to access groundbreaking new science,” Dr Moncef Slaoui Chairman of Research and Development at GSK said. “With its unique platform of entrepreneurs behind the execution of the "asset centric" investing model, we believe Index is well positioned to create an exciting pipeline of drug candidates.”
Dr Paul Stoffels, Worldwide Chairman, Pharmaceuticals Group, Johnson & Johnson, says: “New and creative approaches to funding early stage innovation are crucial to the development of transformative medicine. We believe that supporting and nurturing start-ups and encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation will be good for the entire industry. 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.”
Composed of nine members, the SAB will include senior executives from the two pharma companies, from GSK, Dr Moncef Slaoui and Dr Paul-Peter Tak, Head of GSK’s Immunoinflammation Therapy Area Unit and, from Janssen, Dr Paul Stoffels and Dr Bill Hait, Global Head, Research and Development; as well as five Index Ventures-appointed executives: Francesco De Rubertis, Kevin Johnson, Michele Ollier, Roman Fleck, and Remy Luthringer.
