SNAPSHOT

Blackstone raises record $6.3B life sciences fund as biotech investing surges

Blackstone has closed a $6.3 billion life sciences fund, the largest ever, marking a nearly 40% increase from its 2020 predecessor and reinforcing its growing focus on biopharma investments.

Why it matters: The massive fund underscores rising investor confidence in life sciences, especially as private equity plays a bigger role in financing drug development, potentially accelerating innovation and bringing new treatments to market faster.

Backstory: Blackstone launched its Life Sciences (BXLS) platform in 2018, which has grown to $15 billion in assets. Its strategy centers on funding late-stage drug development and securing returns through royalties and partnerships with major pharmaceutical companies.

Big picture: Private equity is pouring into healthcare at record levels, with $190 billion in global deal value last year, including $80 billion in biopharma alone. It is likely that the Blackstone model, funding R&D in exchange for future drug royalties, will become more common as the industry progresses. The sector has become a key battleground for investors seeking high-growth, high-impact opportunities.

Zoom in: The new $6.3B fund surpasses Blackstone’s previous $4.6B vehicle. BXLS-backed programs have led to 34 approved drugs and devices. These late-stage investments show an 86% approval rate. Recent deals of this kind include a $400M with Teva (gut disease drug), $700M with Merck (cancer therapy royalties), and a collaboration with Johnson & Johnson (leukemia drug). The fund also financed Anthos, which was bought by Novartis for $3.1B last year.

What’s next: Blackstone is likely to keep deploying capital into late-stage drug programs, royalty deals and strategic partnerships with major biopharma companies.

SNIPPETS

What’s happening in biotech today?

💰$6.3B buyout: Eli Lilly has agreed to acquire Centessa Pharmaceuticals in a deal valued at $6.3 billion upfront, with up to an additional $1.5 billion in milestone payments, to expand its neuroscience portfolio. The acquisition centers on Centessa’s pipeline of orexin receptor 2 (OX2R) agonists, led by cleminorexton, a Phase 2 candidate showing promising results for narcolepsy and idiopathic hypersomnia. Additional assets include ORX142 and a preclinical program for neuropsychiatric disorders. Lilly views orexin biology as a key mechanism for regulating the sleep-wake cycle, and the deal reflects its broader strategy to invest in innovative neuroscience therapies.

🤖 AI antibodies: Merck has entered an R&D collaboration with California-based startup Infinimmune, potentially worth up to $838 million in upfront and milestone payments, to develop immune cell-directed antibodies for multiple disease targets. Infinimmune uses artificial intelligence to analyze human immune cell libraries to identify drug candidates, focusing on targets linked to autoimmune conditions such as IL-22 and IL-13. Merck will retain exclusive rights to commercialize resulting therapies.

⚖️ Mixed results: Sanofi reported mixed late-stage trial results for its experimental eczema drug amlitelimab, which met primary endpoints in two Phase 3 studies and a third combination trial but failed to achieve statistical significance on certain European regulatory measures. While the drug showed efficacy in improving skin conditions and maintained a safety profile largely consistent with prior data, concerns emerged due to a reported sarcoma case and broader safety questions tied to the OX40L drug class. Analysts reacted cautiously, citing weaker efficacy compared to Dupixent and lowering sales forecasts, though Sanofi maintains confidence in the drug’s potential and plans to seek regulatory approval.

💊 Oral GLP1: Ambrosia Biosciences has raised $100 million in an oversubscribed Series B round, led by Blue Owl Healthcare Opportunities, Redmile, and Deep Track Capital, to advance its oral small-molecule GLP-1 therapy for obesity into Phase 1 trials. Unlike current peptide-based GLP-1 treatments, Ambrosia’s approach aims to offer advantages in oral delivery, dosing, and combinability, positioning it within a growing field of next-generation weight-loss drugs that includes Eli Lilly’s orforglipron and Structure Therapeutics’ candidates. The funding will also support the development of additional small-molecule programs targeting GPCR pathways such as GIP and amylin, as the company seeks to differentiate its platform in an evolving obesity treatment market.

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