BioCentury
ARTICLE | Finance

Annexon connections

Why Novartis Venture backed neurodegeneration play Annexon's $34M A-1 round

December 22, 2014 8:00 AM UTC

Novartis Venture Fund recruited a syndicate to back Annexon Bioscience's complement modulating approach to target a key step in neurodegeneration arising from different causes. Those efforts yielded last week's $34 million series A-1 round, led by Novartis Venture Fund, with participation by private investment firm and family office Satter Investment Management and Clarus Ventures.

Novartis Venture's Campbell Murray told BioCentury the fund was approached by Annexon last year through Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR), which had been working with Annexon founders Ben Barres and Arnon Rosenthal...