By David G.
Barry
At a time when many
investors are reducing their life science activity, the Qatar Investment
Authority (QIA) appears to be getting more active.
The State of Qatar’s $450 billion sovereign wealth fund has in 2022 made at
least three sizable investments in companies focused on using technologies to
develop treatments. QIA did not reply to an inquiry from Markets Group.
In its most recent transaction, QIA took part in Senda Biosciences, Inc.’s
$123 million Series C round, which also included founder Flagship Pioneering and
such other new investors as Samsung Life Science Fund, Bluewave Capital and
Stage 1 Ventures. The State of Michigan Retirement System also returned as an
investor. Senda has raised $266 million to date.
Based in Cambridge, Mass., Senda describes itself as harnessing nature to
program targeted, potent and tunable medicines. In a prepared statement, company
CEO Guillaume Pfefer said the company is developing “comprehensively
programmable medicines with the potential to reach inaccessible cells, tissues
and organs.”
Earlier this year, QIA and Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. agreed to provide
up to $260 million in funding to publicly traded BioXcel Therapeutics,
Inc. Based in New Haven, Conn., BioXcel is utilizing artificial intelligence
approaches to develop transformative medicines in neuroscience and immuno-oncology.
The capital was to be used for commercial activities and to support the
expansion of clinical development efforts of a drug – including a Phase 3
program for the acute treatment of agitation in patients with Alzheimer’s
Disease.
Also in 2022, QIA took part in Ventus Therapeutics Inc.’s $140 million
Series C round. Located in Waltham, Mass., and Montreal, Ventus is utilizing
structural biology and computational tools to identify and develop small
molecule therapeutics across a broad range of disease indications. The round
was co-led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and RA Capital Management.
Investors put a record $77 billion into U.S. biotech startups in 2021,
according to venture industry tracker Crunchbase. So far in 2022, funding to
the sector has declined by 38.6%. Crunchbase also said that 660 companies
received funding between January and August – compared with 1,034 in the same
period in 2021.
The pullback has in large part been the result of the poor performance of
publicly traded biotech companies – especially ones that have gone public over
the past few years.