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 The move shows Google casting an increasingly wide net as it pumps
cash into global medical research, seeding what it believes will
become a core long-term healthcare business.
Novartis and Verily, a unit of Google parent Alphabet <GOOGL.O>, are
cornerstone investors in the new fund, along with the European
Investment Fund, Medicxi said on Thursday.
Verily already has deals with GlaxoSmithKline <GSK.L>, Sanofi <SASY.PA>,
Novartis and Johnson & Johnson <JNJ.N> to apply novel technology in
areas ranging from diabetes management to robotic surgery. Last
month it landed former U.S. Food and Drug Administration head Robert
Califf as part of its team.
Another Google offshoot, Calico, is working on treatments to fight
ageing, while the group's arms-length GV venture capital operation
has invested in dozens of healthcare start-ups, mostly in the United
States.
The latest initiative will now see it delving deeper into drug
development by investing in late-stage European biotech companies.
The new fund will back both private and public firms with products
that have already reached mid-stage Phase II clinical development,
providing them with a new source of growth capital.
"There is a funding gap because there is a maturing class of
biotechnology companies now in Europe," said Francesco De Rubertis,
co-founder and partner at Medicxi.
The fund is a first for Medicxi, the former life sciences arm of
Index Ventures, which has so far invested in early-stage biotech.
It also reflects the redrawing of traditional industry borders as
tech companies take a hands-on role in healthcare innovation, as
highlighted by the fact that Verily will appoint two members to the
new fund’s scientific advisory board.
Other tech companies, including Apple <AAPL.O> and Microsoft <MSFT.O>,
are also investing in healthcare in the belief that modern computing
capabilities and miniaturization can help accelerate advances in
medical treatment.
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Europe boasts world-class universities and scientists, but its
biotechnology sector has long been a poor relation to the bigger
U.S. industry, where emerging life sciences firms are able to access
a much deeper pool of capital.
By providing funds for late-stage drug development, the hope is that
more firms will be able to stay independent and continue to build up
the value of their experimental medicines, rather than selling out
prematurely to larger players.
De Rubertis said much of the investment was likely to be channeled
to companies in Britain, Switzerland and a region spanning
Paris-Brussels-Amsterdam.
Europe has only a small roster of successful biotechs, such as
Danish cancer specialist Genmab <GEN.CO>, currently worth $13
billion, and Switzerland's Actelion.
Actelion was Europe's top biotech firm for many years, thanks to its
market-leading position in pulmonary arterial hypertension, before
it was bought by J&J this year for $30 billion.
Total revenues for Europe's biotech industry were $25 billion in
2015 against $108 billion for the U.S. industry, according to
consultancy EY.
(Editing by Greg Mahlich)
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