Medicxi Ventures, Formerly Index Ventures Life Sciences, Launches as an Independent Venture Capital Firm and Announces Closing of a €210m Fund including GSK and Johnson & Johnson Innovation

LONDON, GENEVA and JERSEY, February 2, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

• Medicxi Ventures comprises all of the existing life sciences team, portfolio company investments and life sciences funds of Index Ventures 
• GSK and Johnson & Johnson Innovation expand their commitment to the asset-centric approach 
• Index Ventures technology practice remains unchanged 

Medicxi Ventures, a new venture capital firm comprising all of the existing life sciences portfolio companies, funds and team from Index Ventures, today announces the close of Medicxi Ventures 1 (MV1), a new €210 million ($250 million) fund that will focus on early-stage life sciences investments. MV1 will predominantly invest in Europe and principally follow the "asset-centric" strategy pioneered by its partners at Index.

By investing in MV1, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Johnson & Johnson Innovation - JJDC, Inc. (JJDC) have renewed and expanded their commitment to the asset-centric approach, following the prior investment in Index Life 6 (IL-6) alongside other financial investors.

Medicxi Ventures starts its operations as one of the largest independent European life sciences focused investment firms. The Company's mission is to focus on strengthening R&D innovation by providing solutions to unmet medical needs. Collaboration with pharmaceutical companies will continue to be a key strategy helping the firm to deliver on this mission.

Medicxi Ventures will be managed by four General Partners, Francesco De Rubertis, David Grainger, Kevin Johnson and Michèle Ollier, all of whom previously led the life sciences practice of Index Ventures. The four partners will form the executive management of the new firm.

Francesco De Rubertis, General Partner of Medicxi Ventures, said: "We are excited to take this next step in our evolution as a life sciences focused investment firm. A high percentage of the drugs approved every year by the FDA were discovered in European academic labs. By working in close partnership with academia, biotech and the pharmaceutical industry, we are committed to translating this high quality science in Europe into effective new medicines."

He added: "It has been a privilege working with Neil Rimer, Giuseppe Zocco and the other tech partners at Index Ventures for the last 20 years and we have benefitted from their expertise in investing in and building high growth entrepreneurial companies."

Dr Moncef Slaoui, Chairman Global Vaccines and GSK's representative on Medicxi's Scientific Advisory Board, commented on the announcement:  "We are delighted to support the Medicxi team and this early stage investment fund. We believe in the potential to create an exciting pipeline of new medicine candidates by collaborating and investing with an asset-centric model. The team at Medicxi has a proven track record in partnering with world-class entrepreneurs and scientists to translate disruptive science from academia and industry into new medicines with demonstrable patient benefits."  

Dr Richard Mason, Head, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, London, commented: "Johnson & Johnson Innovation is focused on enabling and advancing all stages of science and technology across the world's most robust innovation ecosystems.  We are optimistic that applying the asset-centric investment model of Medicxi across Europe and beyond will uncover the new and highly differentiated science and technology that is needed to turn early stage research into viable products and patient solutions.  We are delighted to work closely with the Medicxi team to help increase the productivity and likelihood of success for the life sciences innovation community throughout the region. " 

The Scientific Advisory Board of the new fund will include some of the top R&D and business development executives from the two pharmaceutical companies as well as Medicxi-appointed executives. As in IL-6, the two pharmaceutical companies have not received any specific rights to the portfolio companies.

Neil Rimer, co-founder of Index Ventures, said: "The creation of Medicxi Ventures as a new entity is a natural evolution given that Index' life sciences team has been operating autonomously within the firm for several years. Whilst Index and Medicxi will operate independently, we retain close ties and look forward to continuing to share ideas and expertise."

Notes for Editors 

About Medicxi Ventures 

Medicxi Ventures is based in London, Geneva and Jersey. It comprises all of the legacy portfolio companies, funds and the life sciences team of Index Ventures, and a new €210 million fund (MV1) that will focus on early-stage investments in life sciences. The Company's mission is to invest and collaborate along the full healthcare continuum focusing on drug discovery and development and pharmaceutical innovation. Leading healthcare companies, GSK and Johnson & Johnson Innovation-JJDC are investors in Medicxi Ventures' funds.

Medicxi Ventures' 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), Molecular Partners (SWX: MOLN), XO1 (sold to Janssen) Egalet (Nasdaq: EGLT), Minerva Neurosciences (Nasdaq: NERV) and Versartis (NASDAQ:VSAR).

Please see http://www.medicxiventures.com for more information.

About the Medicxi Ventures Executive Team  

• Francesco De Rubertis joined Index in 1997 to lead the firm's life sciences activity and has been involved with and overseen all of the investments that Index has made in life sciences

• David Grainger joined Index in 2012. Prior to this, David led an internationally recognised research group in Cambridge University's Department of Medicine, where he published more than 80 first author papers in leading journals including Nature, Science and Nature Medicine. He is an inventor on more than 150 patents and patent applications.

• Kevin Johnson has been working with Index since 2003. He focuses on life sciences, especially drug development companies and was part of the management team that floated Cambridge Antibody Technology on the London Stock Exchange. Two of his products, Humira (Abbott Pharmaceutical) and Benlysta (Human Genome Sciences, GSK), are now on the market.

• Michèle Ollier joined Index in 2006. She has spent more than 15 years in several development and marketing positions at Sanofi International, Bristol-Myers Squibb, RPR/Gencell/Aventis international and Serono International.

For further information, please contact:

Francesco De Rubertis
General Partner, Medicxi Ventures
[email protected]
+44(0)207-154-2020

Katja Stout, Sylvie Berrebi
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
[email protected]
[email protected]
+44(0)207-638-9571

Bill Douglass
Gotham Communications LLC
[email protected]
+1(646)504-0890

SOURCE Medicxi Ventures