The growing ties between large pharmaceutical companies and the biotechnology sector will be highlighted on Wednesday when AstraZeneca is named as a “major investor” in a $125m US venture capital fund. The British pharmaceuticals group has put more money into the early-stage biotech fund of Advent International, a Boston-based private equity group, than any other US or European investor, according to people familiar with the arrangement.The fund, which recently closed, has already made two investments - a $65m financing for AlgoRX Pharmaceuticals, a developer of painkillers, and a $22m injection of funds into Millimed Holdings, which develops vascular technologies.James Politi, New York
