Medicxi has launched The Foundation Institute, an ‘ideas factory’ to translate the best science into a pipeline of novel drug candidates and create new life sciences companies, both in Cambridge, U.K. and across Europe. Along with Medicxi, the new operation is founded by David Grainger, who will combine the titles of Chief Scientific Advisor at Medicxi with Co-Founder at The Foundation Institute, and Richard Mason, currently Head of Johnson & Johnson’s European Innovation Centre and previously CEO of Medicxi portfolio company XO1.
Medicxi’s exclusive partnership with The Foundation Institute reflects the firm’s continued commitment to translating the best science into new medicines as well as supporting the life sciences ecosystem and biotech company creation. The Foundation Institute has been specifically established and designed to complement Medicxi’s venture capital role, combining penetrating scientific insight with longstanding drug development and financing expertise for entrepreneurs.
Francesco De Rubertis, Founding Partner at Medicxi, said: “We are very excited to launch this next evolution in Medicxi’s world-leading operating model. The Foundation Institute will enhance Medicxi’s drive for ever greater scientific advances in therapeutics, whilst at the same time maintaining our sharp focus on capital efficiency and asset-centricity that has proven to be successful to date.”
Commenting on his roles as Chief Scientific Advisor at Medicxi and Co-Founder at The Foundation Institute for 21st Century Medicine, David Grainger said: “The Foundation Institute is an ideas factory for 21st century medicine that will focus on generating breakthrough scientific insights by connecting disparate scientific data hidden amongst the noise of today’s ever expanding scientific output. The Foundation Institute and Medicxi will translate the best science into a pipeline of new drug candidates and create new life science companies, both in Cambridge, U.K. and across Europe.”
Commenting on The Foundation Institute for 21st Century Medicine, Co-Founder Richard Mason said: “The Foundation Institute will pursue an ‘impatient capital’ model with Medicxi, generating and applying new scientific insights to create valuable innovative therapeutic approaches, whilst discharging risk through a relentless focus on killer experiments and optimal development plans in a highly capital efficient manner.”
Moncef Slaoui, Partner at Medicxi, said: “We are confident that this experienced leadership team of David Grainger, who is currently Chairman/CEO of ten Medicxi portfolio companies (including Morphogen-IX, Rebalance and Z-Factor), and Richard Mason, who will also act as CEO of Medicxi portfolio companies Methuselah Health and Divide & Conquer, will help ensure that The Foundation Institute quickly establishes itself at the forefront of successful biotech company creation in Europe.”
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Enquiries
Medicxi
+41 22 707 8630
press@medicxi.com
The Foundation Institute
David Grainger
+44 1223 804087
david@c21med.com
Media
Instinctif Partners (U.K and Global)
Sue Charles / Alex Shaw
+44 20 7457 2020
medicxi@instinctif.com
Marcus Veith (Switzerland)
+41 79 20 75 111
marcus@vspirit.ch
Notes to Editors
About Medicxi
Medicxi is based in London, Geneva and Jersey. The firm's mission is to invest across the full healthcare continuum. Medicxi was established by the former Index Ventures life sciences team and continues to manage the legacy life sciences portfolio of Index Ventures. Medicxi has also recently launched two new funds - Medicxi Ventures 1(MV1) and Medicxi Growth 1 (MG1) – that focus respectively on early-stage and late-stage investments in life sciences.
GSK, Johnson & Johnson and Novartis, three of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies back Medicxi along with Verily, an Alphabet company. These companies, whilst participating in the SABs of the Medicxi funds, do not receive any preferential rights to the portfolio companies.
Medicxi’s team has been investing in life sciences for over 20 years and has backed many successful companies, including Genmab (NASDAQ Copenhagen: GEN), PanGenetics (sold to AbbVie), Micromet (sold to Amgen), Molecular Partners (SWX: MOLN), XO1 (sold to Janssen), Minerva Neurosciences (NASDAQ: NERV), Padlock Therapeutics (sold to Bristol-Myers Squibb) and Impact Biomedicines (sold to Celgene).
Please see www.medicxi.com for more information.
About The Foundation Institute for 21st Century Medicine
The Foundation Institute for 21st Century Medicine is based in Cambridge, UK. Its mission is to translate the best science into a pipeline of new drug candidates and to create new life science companies. The Foundation Institute is an “ideas factory” focused on generating actionable scientific insights from the plethora of disparate scientific data available in the modern world and then translating these ideas into a pipeline of new drug candidates and new life science companies.
Please see www.c21med.com for more information.
