US-listed drugs company Pfizer’s corporate venturing unit has joined healthcare peer Johnson & Johnson’s equivalent as a strategic investor in Aquinox Pharmaceuticals’ $25m funding round.
Aquinox, a Canada-based drug company focused on cancer and inflammatory disease, raise the $25m in its series B round. Venture capital firm Ventures West Capital led the round, and was joined by fellow return backers Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation (JJDC), Baker Brothers Investments and BC Advantage Funds with Pfizer Venture Investments as a new investor.
Elaine Jones, executive director of Pfizer Venture Investments, said: "I am pleased to be joining the Aquinox board [which includes Asish Xavier, principal at JJDC,]."
In mid-2007, Aquinox raised $14.5m in a series A round after starting in 2004 as a spin-off company from the University of British Columbia and the BC Cancer Agency.