US-based affordable medicine developer EQRx secured $500m yesterday in a series B round featuring healthcare software producer Nextech and GV, a corporate vehicle for internet and technology group Alphabet.
The round included all the participants in the $200m series A round EQRx disclosed when it emerged from stealth in January 2020, including Andreessen Horowitz, Section 32, Casdin Capital, Arch Venture Partners and Arboretum Ventures.
The series A investors were joined by undisclosed payers and health systems, life science specialists, family offices and mutual, sovereign wealth and private equity funds. The startup said it has now raised $750m in total.
EQRx is looking to utilise advanced technology to develop more affordable monotherapies and drug combinations in partnership with biopharmaceutical companies.
The company has identified late-stage liver, breast and on-small cell lung cancer medication and drugs for inflammatory conditions as areas it is pursuing.
Alexis Borisy, EQRx’s founder, chairman and CEO, said: “There is an urgent need for change in the industry’s approach to drug pricing, and although challenging, changing the model is not only possible, it is critical. The price of a drug should never be the rate-limiting factor to patient access.
“EQRx is confronting this issue head-on by employing a disruptive, market-based approach to create true, sustainable access to great medicines at fair prices and re-establish trust and transparency between drug developers and the people who need these medicines.”
