Stand Up act

In awarding a total of $73.6 million to 5 teams of cancer researchers, not-for-profit Stand Up To Cancer was agnostic to specific therapeutic areas and instead focused on picking projects with the potential to enter the clinic within 3 years.

The funding model employed by the entertainment industry-sponsored charity-providing three years of support with annual milestones-more closely resembles that of a venture firm than a government grant. Indeed, the average grant size of $14.7 million is almost on par with the $16.8 million average series A round for biotechs over the last five years, as tracked by BioCentury...