Frazier’s life science fund has already benefited several successful biotechs, including Verona Pharma, which was acquired by Merck for $10 billion, and Carmot Therapeutics, which Roche bought for $2.7 billion.
Frazier Life Sciences has brought in more than $1.1 billion in capital commitments for its public fund reserved for small- and mid-cap drugmakers.
The fund, which launched in 2021, is designed to help smaller biopharma players navigate volatility in the sector, according to a Thursday news release. While Frazier designed the fund to provide investments to public companies, the mechanism still has some flexibility to put money behind later-stage private firms through crossover financings.
With Thursday’s closing, the fund has now raised roughly $2.8 billion, Frazier said.
Among the previous beneficiaries of Frazier’s public fund is Verona Pharma, which developed the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease drug Ohtuvayre and was acquired by Merck in July last year for $10 billion. Alpine Immune Sciences was also supported by Frazier’s fund before being acquired by Vertex Pharmaceuticals in April 2024 for $4.9 billion. Alpine is the original developer of povetacicept, Vertex’s closely watched IgA nephropathy therapy awaiting the FDA’s verdict, due Nov. 30.
Aside from Verona and Alpine, Frazier’s portfolio includes many other successful biotechs that have made multibillion dollar exits. Among these are Cerevel Therapeutics, acquired by AbbVie for $8.7 billion in December 2023; Carmot Therapeutics, which attracted a $2.7 billion takeover from Roche; and Avidity Biosciences, Novartis’ major 2025 purchase, at $12 billion.
Frazier’s Thursday fundraise adds to an already hefty sum of money flowing into biopharma just in the second week of September. On Tuesday, BrainChild Bio brought in $116 million in a series A round for its glioma program, while Moonwalk Biosciences nabbed $70 million for an RNA interference therapy for obesity. In the following days, Solstice Oncology and Encoded Therapeutics secured $225 million and $275 million, respectively.
On Wednesday, New York-based Luma Group added to the funding frenzy with its inaugural $410 million venture capital fund for early life sciences companies. Luma marked its first exit from a portfolio company earlier this year when Eli Lilly bought three vaccine developers, one of which had been backed by Luma.
More broadly, the frantic financing pace this week is part of what global law firm Cooley’s Partner Mike Nelson called the “selective recovery” of biopharma investments. Commitments, however, remain “concentrated in later-stage, de-risked assets with near-term clinical catalysts over early-stage companies with less tested therapies,” he told BioSpace in July.
