AbbVie Becomes Partner of BaseLaunch

The Basel accelerator and incubator BaseLaunch, which finances and supports new biotech companies, is receiving further support: the US pharmaceutical company AbbVie is joining as a new partner.

This means that four of the world’s ten largest pharmaceutical companies (by market capitalization) are BaseLaunch’s partners. In addition to AbbVie, these include Roche, Novo Nordisk, Johnson & Johnson and CSL Behring. But the venture capital company Pureos Bioventures, the international law firm CMS and the South Korean-American Bridge Biotherapeutics also support the relatively young innovation factory in the tri-border area.

The incubator is operated by Basel Area Business & Innovation, the agency for location promotion and innovation support in the Basel region. It does not manage an incubator or offer laboratory space. Nevertheless, he has made it his mission to help scientists and entrepreneurs build successful biotech companies through other means.

How many millions Abbvie is investing in the start-up landscape in and around Basel was not disclosed

Since its launch in 2018, BaseLaunch has supported 24 early-stage companies with seed capital and supported them through further development through to Series A financing. In these six years, ten of the 24 companies have now raised a total of more than $600 million in capital from investors. Six companies currently have products in clinical development. Last year, T3 Pharma, which was also backed by BaseLaunch, was acquired by Germany’s Boehringer Ingelheim for $500 million. More promising start-ups are continually being added to BaseLaunch’s portfolio.

The dynamism at the Basel location is spreading internationally. Christian Schubert, Vice President and Head of AbbVie Ventures, Cambridge, MA (USA), comments on the commitment: “Our strategic investment in BaseLaunch will further strengthen our ties to the European biotech ecosystem. We look forward to working closely with the BaseLaunch team to promote the progress of innovative companies and medicines.”

Schubert, who is headquartered in Cambridge/Boston (USA), emphasized to |transkript.de : “We are impressed by BaseLaunch’s track record and the unique business incubation model in Europe. We look forward to working even more closely with the European venture community in the coming years.”

Stephan Emmerth, Director of Business Development & Operations at BaseLaunch, Basel, added: “The partnership with AbbVie underlines the unique position of the Basel Area as Europe’s leading location for life sciences. AbbVie will support us as a global pharmaceutical company with high-quality support and advice. This is crucial for the successful development of our portfolio of innovative biotech companies.” BaseLunch’s portfolio includes Alentis, Cimeio and Phialogics.

Just 253 kilometers down the Rhine from Basel lies Abbvie’s research site in Germany and the former Knoll works in Ludwigshafen, the historical roots of the founding of AbbVie from the US pharmaceutical division of Abbott and an active ingredient from the Knoll-BASF joint venture, which the Americans have made into a mega-seller to this day: Humira.

Abbvie’s actual German headquarters are even a few kilometers further down the Rhine in the Hessian state capital Wiesbaden. From there, as well as from the US headquarters in Chicago, the investment decision to build an innovation center in Ludwigshafen was recently made. 150 million euros are being invested there, perhaps because they are hoping for a repeat of the Humira success?

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(Featured image by Hans via Pixabay)

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First published in transkript. A third-party contributor translated and adapted the article from the original. In case of discrepancy, the original will prevail.

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