US-based life sciences investment firm VenBio Partners has closed its Global Strategic Fund II at $315m following anchor investments from pharmaceutical companies Amgen, Merck and Baxalta.
The fund, which had a target size of $250m, also attracted money from other, unnamed limited partners.
VenBio Strategic Fund II will be led by Robert Adelman and Corey Goodman, both managing directors at the firm. They will be supported by managing partner Behzad Aghazadeh and new additions Aaron Royston, who has been appointed as principal, and Jaume Pons, who will serve as venture partner.
Royston previously acted as senior associate at Vivo Capital, while Pons is the current chief executive of Alexo Therapeutics, an immuno-oncology therapy developer that has been backed by VenBio.
VenBio has invested in 14 companies and recorded five exits: three acquisitions and two initial public offerings.
Amgen was previously a limited partner for the $180m VenBio Global Strategic Fund in 2011. That fund was also supported by Baxter, which spun Baxalta out last year, and contract researcher Pharmaceutical Product Development, which was bought out by private equity firms Carlyle and Hellman & Friedman in 2011.
Goodman said: “We tend to lead or co-lead our deals and take an active role in our investments. We often build management teams as well as syndicates.
“Whether a company is viewed traditionally as early or late stage, we are interested in best-in-class therapeutics. Our goal is to have our capital carry the company to proof-of-concept clinical data.”