Boehringer Ingelheim, a Germany-based drugs company, is preparing to start an early-stage corporate venturing fund.
At the NCET2 Global 1000 conference last month, Martin Heidecker (pictured), director of the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, said he was in mid-October relocating from Germany to Boston, US, to help “access early-stage deals from universities” as part of a separate fund.
In June, Boehringer Ingelheim made its first exit from its €100m venture fund when UK-listed peer GlaxoSmithKline agreed to buy Okairòs, a Switzerland-based drug development company, for €250m ($325m).
In 2010, Okairòs was Boehringer’s first investment.
Okairòs was a spin-off company from US-listed Merck’s IRBM science park in Italy to use T-cell vaccines for diseases, including malaria, HIV, hepatitis C and universal influenza.
