US-based biosimilar medicine developer EQRx launched yesterday with $200m secured in a series A round featuring healthcare software provider Nextech and GV, a corporate venturing subsidiary of internet technology conglomerate Alphabet.
The corporates were joined by healthcare investment firm Casdin Capital and venture capital firms Arch Venture Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Section 32 and Arboretum Ventures.
EQRx aims to help bring down the high cost of medicines by utilising innovative technology and science to create more affordable patent-protected versions of existing treatments for chronic and life-threatening diseases.
The approach will involve the application of technology to accelerate the drug development process, though the treatments will copy existing approved medications.
Alexis Borisy, EQRx’s chairman and chief executive, said: “Over the last several decades, society has benefited from unprecedented technological advances and a deeper understanding of disease biology, revolutionising the way many diseases are treated today.
“That said, the pricing of new therapeutic approaches is pushing beyond the limits of common sense, preventing people and society from equally benefiting from innovation.
“The time is now for a market-based solution to rising drug costs. Our blue-chip team of founders and leaders is proud to launch EQRx and to lead the way in redefining what it means to innovate and deliver high-quality medicines that are within reach of people through more equitable prices.”
GV general partner Krishna Yeshwant has taken a board seat at the startup. He added: “The bold mission of EQRx to deliver better medicines at lower prices is one that can redefine the therapeutics landscape.
“The company’s business model will deliver a sustainable approach for creating, reinvesting in, and rewarding therapeutics innovation, while ensuring these new medicines are broadly accessible to people and healthcare systems through dramatically lower pricing.”
