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Photo: Businessman shaking hands and receiving applause after closing deal/iStock, Wasan Tita
Scion Life Sciences, a New York City-based venture capital firm led by three biotech veterans, announced on Wednesday an oversubscribed investment to create a company working on potentially transformative and curative treatments. Launched a $310 million fund.
The company’s mission is to create and build companies that develop innovative treatments that enable “cures or transform the clinical management” of life-threatening diseases, according to the announcement. Scion Life Sciences, an affiliate of Petrichor, intends to “support the most promising portfolio companies as they mature into late-stage or commercial-stage biopharmaceutical companies.”
The company makes small investments of “a few thousand dollars” for early-stage efforts, but can also provide more than $60 million in capital over the life of a portfolio company, supporting them from pre-seed to public listing. Recruitment.
Scion is led by three industry veterans. Samuel Hall was previously a partner at Apple Tree Partners and has contributed to several biotech companies, including Stork Therapeutics, Marengo Therapeutics, and Chinook Therapeutics, which was acquired by Novartis. did.
Aaron Kuntoff is also a managing partner at Scion. Previously he was a partner in Venture Medicxi and before that he was a co-founder and director of Rayzebio, which he joined in December 2023 in Bristol and Myers Squibb. Acquired for $1 billion.
Joining Mr. Hall and Mr. Kuntoff is Tad Wessel, managing partner of private healthcare investment firm Petrichor. Mr. Wessel was previously a partner at OrbiMed Advisors and a vice president at Fortress Investment Group.
The trio’s extensive experience lies in the three pillars of their asset selection strategy, which the company claims is designed to maximize the potential for innovative medicines while minimizing risk. doing.
First, Scion will focus on mature modalities and technologies that are likely to yield medicines “today or in the near future.” Second, the company invests resources in therapeutic areas and disease targets where the underlying mechanisms are well understood, enabling effective interventions. Finally, Scion says it will be pragmatic by choosing to focus on conditions that independent biotech companies can address.
Scion has established four companies so far. The company said details “will be disclosed subsequently” as the entity matures.
Scion has also assembled an internal team of scientific, medical and technology experts to guide the creation and construction of its portfolio companies, as well as provide internal research and development capabilities. The team will help startups support only those programs that have “extraordinary potential” to grow into full-fledged companies.
“We are building this company primarily to create important new medicines, not as an exit,” Kantoff said in a statement, adding that Scion’s approach is “developing real medicines that change the lives of patients and caregivers. He added that the aim is to “create.”
Tristan Manalac is an independent science writer based in Metro Manila, Philippines. Contact him on LinkedIn or email tristan@tristanmanalac.com or tristan.manalac@biospace.com.
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