BVCF, a Shanghai-based life sciences investor, has closed its third fund with $188 million to back upstart biotechs on both sides of the Pacific focused on the booming Asian market. Dow Jones’ VentureWire and other media outlets reported that the backers to this fund include Novartis ($NVS), BlackRock, NEA and International Finance, which is gambling $20 million on the fund at a when time drug development activities in China continue to heat up.
BVCF sits on the crossroads of a relatively small but fast-growing area in biotech. U.S. and European biopharma companies have been looking for new ways to enter the Chinese drug market as the Big Pharma giants build out large new R&D operations in Asia and start linking up with academic groups. And the trend is spawning new joint ventures and company startups with in-licensed development projects.