Aiolos Bio, Inc.

GSK is one of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies with products ranging from the shingles vaccine Shingrix and the HIV antiretroviral medicine Dovato to general medicines such as the inhaled asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) treatment Trelegy. The latest investment is GSK’s biggest in the U.S. to date, with the aim of boosting the site with modern drug substance manufacturing and drug product manufacturing equipment. Construction will kick off later this year with the drug substance facility entering operations by the end of 2027 and the drug product facility by the end of 2028. The new facility at the site will manufacture sterile liquid vaccines and medicines, which are in higher demand than ever before. The site will also house a drug substance facility to manufacture vaccines based on GSK’s Multiple Antigen Presenting System (MAPS) technology, a tool snapped up in the acquisition of Affinivax in 2022 that is designed to make vaccines more effective. The move is also set to generate more than 200 new jobs at the site. “This landmark investment will establish Marietta as an innovation and manufacturing hub capable of delivering next generation medicines and vaccines to people around the world,” said Regis Simard, President Global Supply Chain, GSK, in a public statement ​. Pennsylvania’s government has sweetened the deal for GSK, with the Department of Community and Economic Development providing the pharma giant with more than $20 million ​ in grant money to support the site expansion. googletag.cmd.push(function () { googletag.display('text-ad1'); }); “Marietta, PA, first emerged on the frontlines of vaccination production more than 140 years ago as the Lancaster County Vaccine Farm supplied the nation with life-saving smallpox vaccines,” stated Ezra Rothman, President, EDC Lancaster County, adding that the region will be a “centerpiece of the company’s North American operations for the foreseeable future.” GSK’s total sales increased from £29.3 billion ($38.1 billion) in 2022 to £30.3 billion ($39.4 billion) in 2023, according to the company’s earnings report ​. The company also expects a 7% annual growth in its sales up to 2026 with 12 major product launches in the works from 2025 onwards. GSK has invested close to $1.3 billion in U.S. manufacturing capabilities since 2017. In addition to manufacturing, GSK has been keen to snap up pipeline programs with recent acquisitions including Bellus Health, Aiolos Bio, and Elsie Biotechnologies for $2 billion, $1.4 billion and $50 million respectively.

Dutch biotech investor Forbion has raised two new funds to put into biotech companies, just 18 months after its last major raise and following a series of successful exits in its portfolio. The new funds include a €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) growth fund and a €890 million ($970 million) venture fund, Forbion announced Tuesday. Both funds are each expected to put the money to work across about 15 different companies. That includes startups working on cardiometabolic drugs, immunology and inflammation treatments, precision oncology and gene therapy, Forbion co-founder Sander Slootweg told Endpoints News in an interview. Slootweg said he’s keen to avoid some of the metabolic targets that have become crowded and potentially overpriced. “What everyone is going after will become expensive, and that’s what we’ve seen,” he said of the weight loss space. “We’ll go after new targets and new modalities, and there is still a lot of upside.” In gene therapy, Forbion will most likely look at in vivo approaches. It was an early investor in bluebird bio. Lyfgenia, the company’s ex vivo sickle cell disease gene therapy, is a scientific breakthrough but a commercial challenge . “Complexity equals cost,” Slootweg said. “If you can avoid ex vivo approaches, you should try to.” But he said the company had recently looked at such a treatment for a rare disease, and there are cases where manipulating cells outside the body might still be the only option. Forbion has been one of biotech’s most reliable fundraisers in an otherwise difficult capital environment. The two new funds come 18 months after the investor raised €1.35 billion for a growth fund and a venture fund. It’s been returning money to its investors through distributions as well. Its portfolio has had six exits in roughly the last year, largely through the sale of companies to large drugmakers. That includes Yellow Jersey Therapeutics, sold to Johnson & Johnson for $1.25 billion ; a $1 billion upfront deal from Novartis for Mariana Oncology; and another $1 billion deal in which GSK acquired Aiolos Bio . In a volatile environment for biotechs, getting cash back to investors has made it much easier to raise new money, Slootweg said. “From an annual budgeting perspective, they expect an amount of distributions, and then there’s a limit to new allocations,” he said, talking about how fund investors are deploying capital to firms like his. Money back matters more than paper gains, Slootweg added: “People want to see distributed returns.” He took the recent run of biotech IPOs as a good sign for the industry, even though there have been none of the larger acquisitions by big pharma companies that marked the end of 2023 and the start of 2024. “We are enthused about the recent IPOs. I’m speaking to bankers who are saying this [is] the beginning. Maybe we’ll see a pause around the election,” Slootweg said. “After the JP Morgan conference, we’ll see a flurry of exits.” Kyle LaHucik contributed to this report.

Dive Brief:European life sciences venture firm Forbion on Tuesday said it has raised 2 billion euros, or more than $2.2 billion, for two of its newest investment funds.Forbion Growth Opportunities III pulled in 1.2 billion euros, while Forbion Ventures VII secured 890 million euros. Both funds exceeded their original targets, bringing the firms total assets under management to over 5 billion euros.Forbions growth fund is focused on later-stage biotechnology companies in North America and Europe. Its venture fund, meanwhile, primarily invests in earlier therapeutics startups, including new companies the firm forms. The two funds will each invest in about 15 companies, according to Forbion.Dive Insight:Forbion has been a steady supporter of young biotechnology companies at a time when investment into the sector has gone alternatively hot and cold.In its Tuesday announcement, the firm said it has 58 active investments and has led or co-led 88% of initial investment rounds of 26 companies across its two funds. Many of those investments have been made in a difficult climate for drug startups, with venture firms often favoring safer bets. Forbion has made 128 investments since launching more than two decades ago.We are delighted to have achieved this record fundraising against a backdrop of volatile market conditions, said Robbert van de Griendt, the firms general partner of investor relations and impact, in the statement.The latest capital infusion surpasses Forbions last fundraise in April 2023, when it brought in about 1.4 billion euros for its previous venture and growth funds. It also follows a string of recent pharmaceutical company acquisitions of Forbion-backed firms.One of Forbions portfolio companies, lung drug developer Aiolos Bio, was acquired by GSK for $1 billion in January. Radiopharmaceuticals specialist Mariana Oncology and antibody drugmaker Yellow Jersey Therapeutics were also snapped up this year in deals worth $1 billion or more. The firm said it has had a total of six investment exits of at least $1 billion in the last 12 months.Forbion has parlayed those returns into a larger funding haul, which it intends to use to boost the number and size of biotech financings it will participate in moving forward.With greater levels of capital, we are able to extend more support to our portfolio companies as they grow and seek to maximize their potential, said managing partner and co-founder Sander Slootweg, in the announcement. '