So the accountants revealed UK-listed drugs maker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) had invested a sizeable amount in US-based cancer treatment developer Lyell Immunopharma, which raised $493m earlier this month.
GSK announced a five-year collaboration with Lyell, which is exploring ways of improving the function of T-cells to enhance response rates in solid tumour cancers and prevent relapses due to T-cell exhaustion, in October 2019.
Lyell has now raised a total of $851m, according to data provider CB Insights, and has used part of the money to make two corporate venturing deals itself, investing in Eureka Therapeutics and Sonoma Biotherapeutics earlier this year.
The latter deal was in partnership with venture capital firm Arch Venture Partners, formed to commercialise research out of University of Chicago and national laboratories, such as Argonne (hence the portmanteau Arch of the first two letters from the lab and city), and which helped start up Lyell.
It reflects, therefore, a trend for investors to provide cash to portfolio companies to seed their ecosystem and hence expand quicker through partnerships. A smart strategy as long as the underlying thesis works out and the technology proves important in treating the cancers.
