Hot Investor Mandate: Large Pharma Company Seeks to In-License Novel Therapeutic Assets and Platforms in Orphan/Rare Disease Indications

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A East Coast region-based large pharmaceutical specializes in the development of treatments for ultra-orphan diseases (diseases with under 20,000 patients in the USA or EU), and is seeking to in-license novel therapeutics and platforms in this space.

The firm is focused on serving patients and families affected by rare diseases. The firm focuses its research efforts on novel molecules and targets in the complement cascade and its development efforts on the core therapeutic areas of hematology, nephrology, neurology, and metabolic disorders.

The firm is open to working with companies anywhere in the world, and has no set requirements for partners.

If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email mandates@lifesciencenation.com.

Hot Investor Mandate: French Family Office Invests Up to $10M in Data/Software-Driven Medical Devices and Digital Health Technologies

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An evergreen private equity firm launched by a French family office is headquartered in Paris with additional offices in USA and China. The firm was created with an aim to invest in high growth opportunities in healthcare and multiple other sectors outside of retail. The firm typically makes minority investments of US$2-10 million in Series A and B rounds (either as lead or co-investor in a round). The firm is currently seeking new opportunities in France, United States, and China.

Within healthcare, the firm is interested in digital health applications that improves quality or efficiency of care, such as telemedicine, patient-doctor interface workforce coordination, and analytics software. In particular, the firm’s USA offices are focused on agtech businesses, such as agriculture tech and food. The firm prefers enterprise solutions, but can also consider consumer products. The firm is not interested in insurance, cosmetics, nutraceutical or well-being products. For hardware devices to be considered, it must have a strong software/data component as its core technology. The firm is agnostic to disease areas and is currently most interested in elderly care. The firm prefers to work with growth-stage companies that are revenue-generating.

The firm is looking for companies formed by a team of founders with expertise in the medical, technology, and sales and marketing sectors. One-person companies are less likely to be considered. The firm seeks teams that are able to work across cultures and grow into international markets. The firm is a long-term investor that works closely with its portfolio companies and strives to create a sharing culture together.

If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email mandates@lifesciencenation.com.

Service Providers, the Third Leg of the RESI Stool

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By Dennis Ford, Founder & CEO, Life Science Nation; Creator of RESI Conference Series

The Redefining Early Stage Investments (RESI) conference series consists of investors (the buyers) and the life science startups  (the sellers), and the service providers who have the services that the startup companies need to move their products towards commercialization. Service provider sales and business development staff have a tremendous opportunity to use RESI to keep their business pipelines full, as a good portion of the capital raised after an investment transaction often goes to 3rd party service providers.  LSN and RESI act as a hub for the early-stage life science ecosystem, bringing all of the players together to interact and form relationships. Indeed, It is a twofold proposition for the service providers who attend RESI: first, they have an opportunity to meet the startup firms that would benefit from their services. Second, they have the chance to meet the investors that attend RESI,  who are not only funding these new prospective clients but also have a portfolio of funded firms that may be in need of 3rd party services.  A lot of the big global CROs that regularly attend RESI love the fact that creating relationships with the funding source can help drive ongoing strategic relationships.

The BD staff of the service providers can also take advantage of the RESI format – having a partnering conference every few months across North America allows them to regularly schedule a full day of meetings with prospective new clients and potentially closing a lot of new deals.  RESI has been the ONLY conference to regularly coalesce (5 times a year) the global early-stage investor community (10 categories of investors) and their billions of investment dollars.  No other conference entity is dedicated exclusively to the early-stage life sciences ecosystem. It is our relationship with this community that makes RESI unique. The hook for RESI is that the early-stage capital is meeting with the early-stage companies across the silos of drugs, devices, diagnostics and digital health thus creating extremely compelling business targets for service providers.

The smart early-stage service providers know that attending RESI and putting these fundraising CEOs and scientist/entrepreneurs on their radar screen can funnel business into their pipeline.  Moreover, being able to meet and cultivate relationships with “the money” and obtain insights into the portfolio companies of the investors  and the services they may need offers another avenue for obtaining new clients. After 19 conferences over three years we have seen that the service providers are a solid part of the RESI ecosystem. The combination of regional, smaller service providers and big global players makes RESI incredibly dynamic.  RESI generates business and forges important industry connections for service providers, making them an important part of their sales and BD strategy since day 1.

Big Pharma Firms Partner Early At RESI Boston: Panel Announcement

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By Lucy Parkinson, VP of Investor Research, LSN

In recent years, big pharma companies have begun looking outwards for innovative new therapeutics to add to their pipelines. This RESI Boston panel will feature five speakers and a moderator from various big pharma companies discussing topics such as:

 

  •     How big pharma sources assets
  •     The evaluation and investment process
  •     Key factors of interest
  •     How early-stage big pharma is willing to look

At RESI Boston on September 6th, we welcome five speakers from major pharma firms who will explain how they evaluate early stage companies for potential licensing and partnership relationships.  The panelists are:

  • Alex Rabiee, Director, Business Development, Amgen
  • Lizabeth Leveille, Head, Boston Innovation Hub, Merck
  • Imran Nasrullah, Director, BD&L, Strategic Partnering, Boehringer Ingelheim
  • Niels Emmerich, Senior Director, Global Head Search & Evaluation Oncology, AbbVie
  • Tim Luker, VP External Innovation, Eli Lilly

These panelists will shed light on the process that big pharma goes through when sourcing early-stage assets and advise startups on how they can best make a case for themselves. Panelists will also explore various trends within the therapeutics marketplace, what assets are of interest to their company, and what they think will be big in the future.

Corporate VC Arm of Global Pharma Invests in Early-Stage Therapeutics and Digital Health Solutions of Strategic Fit

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A corporate venture capital arm of a global pharmaceutical invests in early stage healthcare companies of strategic interest to the parent pharmaceutical (typically seed or series A). The firm has a global mandate and is currently seeking new equity investment opportunities.

As a strategic investor, the firm makes direct equity investments in innovative start-ups aligned with the pharmaceutical’s areas of strategic focus. Among these areas are rare diseases, vaccines, digital health solutions, etc. The firm seeks products that are in preclinical or early clinical development and that have proof-of-concept data.

The firm has a flexible funding structure and is able to lead and co-lead rounds as well as co-invest with top tier life science investors. The firm seeks to be a long-term investor with board responsibilities either as a full seat or as an observer.

In addition to equity financing, the firm provides strategic and technical input to portfolio companies through the established expertise of their teams. The success of the firm is driven by the ability to invest in areas where the fund can provide a unique voice and insight, active portfolio company engagement and the facilitation of future strategic collaborations with the parent pharmaceutical.

If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email mandates@lifesciencenation.com.

Venture Arm of Large Pharma Invests Up to $19M in Medical Device and Diagnostic Companies in Cardiovascular, Metabolic Diseases, etc.

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A venture arm of a large pharmaceutical makes equity investments in life science companies, typically in venture rounds. The firm invests at a wide range of product development phases, from preclinical development (up to 18 months away from the first in-human clinical trials) to products that have received regulatory approval, but typically does not invest in products that are on the market. The fund is open to considering investments globally. The firm makes highly varied investments, with a range from $250,000-$19 million.

The firm invests in areas that are strategically important to the parent company in the medical device and diagnostic sectors. The firm’s medical device interests include cardiovascular devices (traditional vascular, endovascular, arterial, venous, fistula formation, BTK, CLI, neurovascular, structural heart, transcatheter, mitral, pulmonary, EP ablation and afibulation, and implantable cardio devices such as pacers and sensors), diabetes devices (including glucose monitors, new sensing technologies, and other insulin management devices such as pumps), neuromodulation devices (primarily spinal cord stimulators and DBS). Within neuromodulation, the firm is interested in all indication areas that can be impacted by the technology. In diagnostics, the firm is focused on molecular diagnostics, core lab diagnostics, point of care diagnostics, and blood bank testing. In point of care diagnostics, the firm is generally only interested in opportunities that offer a broad panel of tests or which are very specific to a certain setting. The firm is also highly interested in diagnostics for traumatic brain injury and concussion. The firm is also interested in imaging technologies and digital technologies that relate to their core areas.

The firm will invest at any stage of development prior to commercialization; the firm may also consider investing in products that are commercialized overseas but not in the USA.

The firm invests only in privately-held companies, but has no other fixed requirements for companies & management teams. As an investor that provides resources and value in addition to capital, the firm may attach some form of rights to investments, but do not use investment structures that will become a hindrance to the portfolio companies.

If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email mandates@lifesciencenation.com.

Large Japanese Pharma Seeks to Partner with Early-Stage Therapeutic Opportunities in Oncology, CNS, Rare Disease, Pain Management, etc.

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A global pharmaceutical company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan is dedicated to the creation and supply of innovative pharmaceutical products to address the diversified, unmet medical needs of patients in both mature and emerging markets. In addition to a strong portfolio of medicines for hypertension and thrombotic disorders, the pharma’s R&D team is primarily focused on bringing forth novel therapies in oncology, including immuno-oncology, with additional focus on new horizon areas, such as pain management, neurodegenerative diseases, heart and kidney conditions, and rare diseases. The company is currently looking for partnering and in-licensing opportunities across the globe.

The company is currently looking for innovative therapeutics targeting the following priority areas: oncology, pain management, cardiovascular disease, CNS, and rare diseases. Other interest areas include novel therapeutic targets and approaches for the gut microbiome that can modulate disease outcome, cell therapeutics for serious diseases including Stroke/TIA, PAD/CLI and hepatic cirrhosis, and novel therapies for hematological diseases, especially for anemic disorders with erythropoietin resistance. The company is open to biologics or small molecules, with an increased interest in new platform technologies. The following areas are currently out of focus: diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, psychiatric diseases, and immunodeficiency.

The company partners with privately held life science companies with experienced management teams and innovative technologies in the abovementioned areas.

If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email mandates@lifesciencenation.com.