Japan's INCJ takes control of $87m pharma spin-out
The Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ) has teamed up with two pharmaceutical players to invest JPY10 billion ($87 million) in the creation of a biotech spin-out. INCJ will hold a 70.5% stake in the company.
Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical and its distribution partner Medipal will take 19.5% and 10% stakes, respectively. The new company, known as Scohia Pharma, will be launched from Takeda’s Shonan Research Center, which focuses on drug discovery.
According to a statement, the company will sign a licensing agreement for eight of Takeda’s renal, metabolic and cardiovascular research and development projects, with the goal of starting operations next month. It will also have access to Takeda's researchers and expertise.
Creation of the company is being touted as a unique business development for Japan’s pharmaceutical industry and an opportunity to replicate the success of similar spin-outs in Europe and the US. It aims to combine the resources of established corporates with the flexible decision-making ability of a start-up.
“Scohia Pharma will be born as a remarkably large-scale biotech venture with proven development pipelines, and I anticipate that its success will contribute not only to the delivery of new therapeutic medications but also to the establishment of an entire new ecosystem in the Japanese pharmaceutical industry and biotech field,” said Mikihide Katsumata, president and chief operational officer at INCJ.
Takeda received a JPY500 million investment from INCJ in 2009. The firm has received venture backing as recently as last year with a $41 million Series A round led by US-based Frazier Healthcare Partners.
Previous healthcare activity by INCJ also includes investment in Japanese stem cell technology developer Megakaryon and participation in a consortium that acquired US firm KBI BioPharma. Last year, the government-backed investor contributed JPY4.4 billion to a fund managed by MedVenture Partners, a Japan-based VC focused on the medical devices industry.
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