Two major drugmakers, Amgen and Novartis, have joined forces with Atlas Venture on biotech start-ups.
The pair has entered into corporate strategic partnership agreements with Atlas. The alliance with Amgen was done through its venture capital fund, Amgen Ventures.
The agreements are in conjunction with the closing of Atlas IX, in which Amgen Ventures and Novartis are new limited partners. Atlas raised $265m for its ninth fund, which is committed to supporting early-stage start-ups in life sciences and tech. The fund is expected to fuel more than 15 new biotech start-ups.
The collaboration with Amgen and Novartis will focus on start-ups in the field of innovative, potentially high impact medicines, with Atlas entrepreneurs benefitting from Amgen and Novartis’ knowledge in pharmaceutical research and development.
Under the agreements, Atlas intends to explore a range of new opportunities with Amgen and Novartis including co-creation of life sciences start-ups, formation of asset-centric development projects and helping to translate discoveries from ongoing academic collaborations.