The retreat of corporate venture funding?

Corporate venture firms are well established as important sources of funds for young drug developers, after stepping up activity around a decade ago to top up shallow pools of private capital. But signs of retreat are now emerging from these industry-backed funds.

This is evident from an analysis of corporate funds’ overall activity, as well as in closer looks at the sector’s most active investors, using data collected by Evaluate Pharma. However it should also be remembered that the roles played by larger developers in the start-up space have evolved in recent years. In many ways big pharma’s ties to external, early-stage research are closer than ever before.