Flagship’s robust funding round highlights a general recovery in biotech investment. A number of venture capital firms brought in fresh cash this year, including Foresite Capital, Sands Capital, Scion Life Sciences and a life sciences arm of Goldman Sachs. Arch Venture Partners is also raising a new $3 billion fund.
Still, investors are now often looking for more proven commodities rather than the preclinical startups that easily raised cash in 2020 and 2021. Activity in initial public offerings in the sector remains spotty, too.
Flagship offers institutional investors the chance to buy into a diverse universe of biotech companies. Launched in 2000, Flagship has created more than 100 scientific ventures and currently counts 40 companies in its portfolio, including COVID vaccine maker Moderna. All told, Flagship now has an aggregate capital pool of $10.9 billion and $14 billion of assets under management. READ MORE
By Kristin Jensen
Source: biopharmadive.com
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) has established a partnership with Novo Nordisk Pharma Gulf focusing on the creation of a national scientific guide for obesity management and weight control. The collaboration also aims to enhance public awareness of cardiovascular diseases and their complications.
Pharma giant Eli Lilly is teaming up with Haya Therapeutics in a $1bn deal to find multiple regulatory-genome-derived RNA-based drug targets, as it eyes up new targets in obesity. Under the deal, the companies will use Haya’s proprietary regulatory genome discovery platform to identify and validate long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) targets for developing potential treatments for obesity and related metabolic disorders.
The sale includes custom formulation and contract manufacturing capabilities for the nutrition market from the production facilities in New Jersey and Utah in the United States, and Tamaulipas, Mexico. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
