Novel EUR 150 Million Collaborative Investment Announced at BIO-Europe Spring® 2012 in Amsterdam

LONDON & AMSTERDAM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Today, the third and final day of BIO-Europe Spring^® 2012, Index Ventures announced the launch of a EUR 150 million life science investment fund with heavy backing from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Johnson & Johnson (J&J). The news was announced at BIO-Europe Spring 2012 in a plenary session entitled “Big pharma and venture capital: Two chefs in the kitchen.” BIO-Europe Spring is one of the largest life science partnering events in the world with over 2,000 delegates who engage in more than 11,000 one-to-one partnering meetings.

The investment fund represents a new pharmaceutical-VC partnership model intended to propel early stage pre-competitive innovation. The fund includes investments from several of Index's largest existing limited partners and will capitalize on Index's successful track record in asset-centric approach.

“This is going to be a classic venture fund like all other index funds. It is a real VC fund, with the big vision to drive partnerships and discovery, not to drive R&D purposes,” said Francesco De Rubertis, Partner at Index Ventures. “The single most important benefit of our fund is having proximity to people on the front line who have a vested interest in the success of the fund.”

The investment fund will capitalize on the shared expertise of GSK and J&J through their participation in the fund's scientific advisory board (SAB).

“The endeavor we are taking to discover new drugs is enormous. Our organizations are very large, but in absolute terms, they are small. It's key for us to reach out to any new ideas anywhere in the world,” said Moncef Slaoui, Chairman R&D, GSK. “We need to capture the diversity of ideas and talent.”

In the past, this type of pre-competitive partnership was unheard of, but the sector has seen a recent shift in the previous model, allowing new capital to flow into early stage discovery.

“You need to be as effective as possible to progress assets to the finish line,” said Paul Stoffels, Worldwide Chairman Pharmaceuticals, J&J. “You need entrepreneurs who know when to start and when to stop, a very lean approach, and people who know the minimum amount of capital to find out what works, or doesn't work. And you need a very large and diverse access to innovation to get to those best medicines in the future.”

BIO-Europe Spring 2012 was attended by over 2,100 delegates representing 1,304 companies from 44 countries, a 20% increase from 2011. Over 11,170 one-to-one partnering meetings generated by partneringONE^®, the leading conference partnering system for the life sciences, took place at the event.

Go to the BIO-Europe Spring web site for additional coverage of the event at www.ebdgroup.com/bes/index.php.

Additional links and information:

partnering360: www.partnering360.com

Follow BIO-Europe Spring 2012 on Twitter: twitter.com/EBDgroup (hashtag: #BES12)

LinkedIn Event site: http://linkd.in/uA0L0x

About EBD Group

EBD Group is the leading partnering firm for the global life science industry. Since 1993, biotech, pharma and medical device companies have leveraged EBD Group's partnering conferences, technology and services to identify business opportunities and develop strategic relationships essential to their success.

EBD Group's conferences are run with the support of leading corporations and international trade associations and include:

• BIO-Europe^® and BIO-Europe Spring^®, Europe's largest life science partnering conferences, supported by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO)
• BioPharm America™, the fastest growing partnering event in North America
• EuroMedtech™, EBD Group's partnering event for the innovative medical technology industry
• BioEquity Europe, the investor conference co-organized with BioCentury Publications and BIO
• ChinaBio^® Partnering Forum, the first dedicated biotech/pharma partnering conference in China, co-produced with ChinaBio^® LLC
• Partnering for Global Impact^®, a new partnering conference providing an innovative forum to partner, identify and generate social and philanthropic investment and funding opportunities
• Biotech Showcase™, a unique forum in San Francisco for presenting to investors and business development executives, co-produced with Demy-Colton Life Science Advisors

EBD Group's sophisticated web-based partnering service, partneringONE^®, is used as the partnering engine at numerous third-party events around the world, and partnering360^® is the open online community of life science dealmakers that enhances partnering experiences at industry events.

Outside of the conference format, EBD Group's consultants provide hands-on assistance for firms seeking to in- or out-license products and technologies. EBD Group has offices in the USA and Europe.

For more information please visit www.ebdgroup.com.