AskBio answers investors’ call
Why AskBio finally took venture money to invest in its own gene therapy pipeline
Since 2001, gene therapy company Asklepios has subsisted chiefly on cash from licensing deals or transaction fees on programs sold off to biopharmas. Now, with $225 million in new series A funding from TPG Capital and Vida Ventures -- plus another $10 million from board members and company management -- the company is seeking to control its own pipeline and develop its own therapies for neuromuscular, CNS and cardiovascular indications.
“This is a team that has opted to build their business by developing products and selling them off, and reinvesting the proceeds,” Vida’s Fred Cohen told BioCentury. “We had a discussion about whether they wanted to continue to do that, which clearly they could, or whether to grow to be a fully integrated biotech company.”...