Bayer Teams Up With Versant Ventures to Develop Stem-Cell Therapies
December 09 2016 - 6:09AM
Dow Jones News
By Christopher Alessi
FRANKFURT--German pharmaceuticals giant Bayer AG and U.S. health
care investor Versant Ventures plan to establish a stem-cell
research company, marking the latest effort by a big pharmaceutical
company to develop new and innovative drugs by joining with venture
capital and biotechnology firms.
Executives at Bayer and Versant said in an interview that they
would launch the startup, to be called BlueRock Therapeutics, with
initial joint funding of $225 million. BlueRock plans to focus on
developing stem-cell therapies to regenerate heart muscles
following a heart attack and treatments for Parkinson's
disease.
The companies plan to formally announce the deal on Monday.
Write to Christopher Alessi at christopher.alessi@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 09, 2016 06:54 ET (11:54 GMT)
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