In total, FSI XI has netted over $987 million in commitments to drive the success of Frazier’s ongoing investment strategy.
Frazier Life Sciences, an investment group that has turned its attention to the biotech industry, has closed a deal to open Frazier Life Sciences, XI (FSI XI) as an extension of its portfolio. FSI XI, Frazier Healthcare Partners’ newest in a long line of deep-pocketed life sciences venture funds, will focus on creating and developing biotechnology companies that it believes have potential for long-term growth.
FSI XI will be managed by three of Frazier’s seasoned, senior-level managing partners who hold a collective tenure of 56 years. Investors have been carried over from the Frazier Life Sciences Public Fund L.P. (FLSPF), in addition to newly acquired institutional investors. In total, FSI XI has netted over $987 million in commitments to drive the success of Frazier’s ongoing investment strategy.
The predecessor to FSI XI, FSI X, managed to raise a sizable $617 million to continue investment opportunities. Frazier’s FLSPF venture raised the bar even higher in 2021 with an $830 million public fund. Managing Partner Jamie Topper details that the FSI XI venture, along with the FLSPF fund, will help “exceptional entrepreneurs…. to discover and develop therapeutics for patients, leveraging the amazing advances in biology and medicine that have accelerated in recent years.”
Frazier’s portfolio is extensive, reaching from larger, public companies to biopharmaceutical start-ups that are reaching the clinical stage. Silence Therapeutics, a clinical-stage company developing mRNA therapeutics for rare diseases, announced in late 2021 that Frazier Life Sciences would become a key shareholder. Another of the companies chosen as an investment is Massachusetts-based Alcresta Therapeutics, which primarily works to formulate enzyme-based products for the treatment of rare diseases. Alcresta recently announced that one of its enzymatic digestion products, RELiZORB, is now locally covered under Medicare.
Frazier is a company that takes pride in investing in an entrepreneur or smaller company and seeing to its growth, such as towards an initial public offering (IPO). Following their development, many of Frazier’s investment companies go on to be acquired by pharma giants, such as Mavupharma, which was acquired by AbbVie.
Frazier has previously led crossover financing for vaccine development companies, such as in 2021 for Hillevax, in an effort to net the smaller company a sizeable budget. Yet another indication of Frazier’s belief in research for the development of rare disease treatment, Alpine Immune Sciences also entered into a 2021 agreement for Frazier to lead a securities purchasing agreement across major players in the pharmaceutical investment world.
The investment giant is sure to frequent biopharmaceutical headlines in 2022 with countless investments and profitable agreements.
It is clear that Frazier Healthcare Partners has recognized that the exponentially increasing discoveries of novel treatment options being developed by biotechnology are not likely to slow. The ongoing portfolio expansion of Frazier Life Sciences and all funds raised demonstrate a careful market evaluation that has resulted in the identification of an industry with a high capital demand. The road from drug discovery to IPO, New Drug Application or Biologics License Application is tedious, and the expense is often underestimated.
