The NewCo model spurs debate, but it’s about more than money — a Perspective
Expanding the dealmaker’s toolkit to bring Asian innovation to the West
The NewCo Model has at last moved beyond China. Or has it? Whether Singapore and Seattle ADC start-up Callio was truly the latest venture in Asia’s red-hot “NewCo” phenomenon, rather than a reboot of a biotech battling the bear market, was as hotly debated at the fourth BioCentury-BayHelix East-West Biopharma Summit as how long the trend would last.
Founded by Frazier Life Sciences, Callio Therapeutics Inc. debuted March 3 to develop multipayload antibody-drug conjugates in-licensed from Singapore’s Hummingbird Bioscience Pte. Ltd. In tandem, Callio raised $187 million in a series A round led by the San Francisco Bay Area VC, with participation from Paris-based Jeito Capital, Novo Holdings A/S and Singapore investors ClavystBio and EDBI, plus five other firms...