Venture capital firm Index Ventures has launched new EUR150m life sciences fund which includes investments from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and the venture capital affiliate of the Janssen pharmaceutical companies of Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) alongside Index's existing limited partners.
The two global pharmaceutical companies will participate in the scientific advisory board (SAB) of the fund, while Index will maintain full decision making rights to the portfolio companies.
Rules and procedures for the fund will follow the same as previous Index Ventures funds, and the fund is intended to stimulate promising, early-stage R&D innovation, across Europe and the US.
GSK Research and Development chairman Moncef Slaoui said this collaboration shows the company’s commitment to the biotech ecosystem and to continuously pursuing creative new ways to access groundbreaking new science.
"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," Slaoui said.
Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals Group worldwide chairman Paul Stoffels said new and creative approaches to funding early stage innovation are crucial to the development of transformative medicine.
"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," Stoffels added.