Pfizer Venture Investments, the top 10-ranked healthcare corporate venturing division of US-listed Pfizer, has joined the $12m series A round for the maker of laboratory mice.
Ablexis, a US-based developer of its proprietory AlivaMab Mouse used as a transgenic platform for human drug discovery raised the series A in a round led by US venture capital firm Third Rock Ventures.
So-called transgenic mice have been targeted by pharmaceutical companies with biotechnology firm Amgen buying Abgenix’s XenoMouse technology while Bristol-Myers Squibb acquired Medarex’s HuMab-Mouse.
Barbara Dalton, vice president of venture capital at Pfizer, which was ranked seventh by Global Corporate Venturing in its survey of most influential healthcare corporate venturing divisions, said: "We expect Ablexis’ innovative transgenic mouse platform will fulfil a strategic need for many companies, like Pfizer, as a platform to develop high quality antibody drug candidates. This investment supports an interesting business model for the development of important technology platforms for our industry."
Picture by Gloria Kwon for Nikon SmallWorld competition, 2008.