Index Ventures is partnering with Mountain View, Calif.-based biotech firm Amunix to launch Versartis, a pharmaceutical company that will market diabetes and metabolic disease treatments, reports VentureWire. Each partner owns half of the new company, which also just received $11 million from Index in first-round funding.
The team says it only needs to push one of the drugs through phase one clinical trials to be well-positioned for a lucrative acquisition. While they predict this will take less than 18 months, Index reserves the option to pump $5 million in additional funding into Versartis if more time is needed. Amunix provided the preliminary research for the drugs, which Versartis is only responsible for developing.
The joint enterprise marks the first time Index has been involved in the launch of a startup. Amunix decided the deal was the best course of action because it would be able to keep its equity in the three drugs passed to Redwood City, Calif.-based Versartis while forging other partnerships to support unrelated products. The small biotech firm has not taken any venture funding in the past.