GSK and Johnson & Johnson have launched a fund to invest in biotech start-up companies. They are doing this in conjunction with Index Futures. The pharma and healthcare giants are each investing one quarter of the €150m fund. The rest is coming from Index Futures’ other partners. They are looking at investing in European projects that “have first-in-class or best-in-class mechanisms of action and target areas of unmet medical need”.
Paul Gershlick, a Partner at Matthew Arnold & Baldwin LLP and Head of Pharmaceuticals and Life Sciences, comments: “Big pharma companies are currently struggling to maintain profits in the face of the patent cliff and other challenges they are facing. Working hand-in-hand with agile innovative start-ups with huge potential may be one way in which they can re-shape their business models in a changing environment.”