Firms that Finance Product Development
|
Company |
nvestment Model |
Committed Capital ($M) |
Amount invested ($M) |
Investments |
Ace in the Hole |
Symphony Capital www.symphonycapital.com |
Fund buys IP rights to compounds from a biotech or pharma company and develops compound in clinic. Company has option to buy back IP at set price and time. |
$315 |
$135 |
Symphony Neuro Development Company (with Guilford Pharmaceuticals), Symphony Evolution (with Exelixis), Symphony GenIsis (with Isis Pharmaceuticals), Symphony Dynamo (with Dynavax Technologies) |
Alastair Wood, Mark Kessel |
TPG-Axon Capital |
Uses some of the firm’s $6 billion to finance product development. No transfer of IP but provides cash, services, and sales force to help development. Royalties, milestones. |
>$1,000 |
~$500 |
Six undisclosed companies; one with NovaQuest |
Founder Dinakar Singh was at Goldman-Sachs for 14 years, including as partner and head of the principal strategies department. |
NovaQuest (formerly Pharmabio Development Group, a subsidiary of Quintiles Transnational), www.novaquest.com |
No transfer of IP. NovaQuest puts up cash and services in return for milestones and royalties. |
$1,500 |
$750 |
More than 60; one undisclosed collaboration with TPG-Axon Capital |
World’s largest CRO, Quintiles Transnational, is the parent company. |
Celtic Pharma www.celticpharma.com |
Buys IP rights to products that are in the clinic from companies. No predetermined buy-back provision. Auctions the compound after clinical trials completed. |
$250 |
Undisclosed |
Xenova (Berkshire, UK), Neurobiological Technologies (Emeryville, Calif.), Idea (Munich, Germany) |
Founders Stephen Evans-Freke, former lead investment banker to Genentech and Amgen; and John Mayo, who led Zeneca’s spinoff and IPO in 1993 and later its merger with Astra in 1997. |
Royalty Pharma www.royaltypharma.com |
Pays upfront for long-term royalty streams of products that are on the market or still in the clinic. |
$140 |
$90 |
Four products currently in the clinic: Lasofoxifene (Pfizer), alvimopan (GSK/Adolor), bazedoxifene and bazedoxifene/Premarin (Wyeth) |
Pablo Legorreta, who had previously founded and managed investments in Neupogen and ReoPro royalty streams. |