Preemptive medicine a priority as Flagship deploys $3.4B fund

By reopening its seventh fund and tripling the amount raised, Flagship Pioneering will now have $3.4 billion to deploy as it seeks to create companies in scientific spaces where there is little or no competition yet.

Founder and CEO Noubar Afeyan told BioCentury the firm is seeking to invest in “brand-new value pools,” rather than chase deals in the same areas in which other VCs are investing. Principal among technologies that will be funded are those that work “upstream” of disease, preventing it from setting in, an area Afeyan believes has been left dry by industry...