SINGAPORE – US-based life sciences venture firm Flagship Pioneering on Wednesday announced the opening of an office in Singapore, as it looks for opportunities to collaborate with the healthcare and life sciences industry in the Asia-Pacific.
Its expansion will allow it “to scale and grow the companies we have created through strategic partnerships” in the region, chief executive Noubar Afeyan said.
Flagship conceives and develops companies specialising in biotechnology and life sciences. It is best known for founding and listing Covid-19 vaccine maker Moderna, where Mr Afeyan retains his role as chairman and co-founder.
Flagship works with up to 400 scientists and engineers as well as entrepreneurs who pool their funds with capital raised from private equity to develop and launch start-ups in human therapeutics, agriculture and nutrition.
The firm launches six to eight companies each year on average. While some fail, many make it to the later stages of growth when other investors can invest before the firms eventually go public.
However, the market for initial public offerings has waned on the back of higher interest rates and poorer appetite for risk. Flagship is now seeking growth opportunities for 45 of its companies through partnerships with bigger firms in the US and overseas.
“In biotech, when you can’t take a company public, you can do partnerships with big pharmaceutical companies, many of which eventually buy up these start-ups or provide funding. More of these partnerships are taking place in the current environment,” Mr Afeyan said.
One example is Flagship-founded drugmaker Generate Biomedicines, which in September raised funding for its treatments from Nasdaq-listed biotechnology company Amgen, among others.
In July, Flagship announced a partnership with New York Stock Exchange-listed Pfizer to create a pipeline of innovative medicines. They will each invest US$50 million (S$68 million) to develop 10 products selected from Flagship-founded companies. Pfizer will fund and have an option to acquire each product.
Mr Afeyan said Flagship chose to open its office here to have a presence on behalf of the 45 companies it is looking to scale up. “Each of these companies might have an interest in forming clinical, financial or regulatory partnerships here or participate in government programmes.”
He added that the firm sees opportunities to work with Singapore biotech and life sciences companies. “There is a lot of science and innovation happening here through programmes by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research as well as support from Singapore’s Economic Development Board.”
The Singapore office is Flagship’s second overseas hub after it opened its London office earlier this year.
It will hire senior partner at consulting firm McKinsey & Company Andre Andonian as its senior adviser and chairman of its Asia-Pacific operations. Other employees with life science expertise will also be brought on board at the Singapore office, Mr Afeyan said.
Since its launch in 2000, Flagship has originated and fostered over 100 scientific ventures, resulting in more than US$90 billion in aggregate value.
To date, it has deployed over US$3.4 billion in capital towards the founding and growth of its pioneering companies alongside more than US$26 billion of follow-on investments from other institutions. A total of 25 companies, including Moderna, have since gone public in the US.
