Goldman Sachs Asset Management has expanded to biotech investments in recent years. The investment firm is now preparing to ramp up its investment activity in the sector with a new $650 million fund, its first one dedicated to the life sciences. Goldman on Wednesday announced the final close of the new fund, called West Street Life Sciences I. About $90 million from this fund has already been committed to five biotech companies in its portfolio: MOMA Therapeutics, Nested Therapeutics, TORL Biotherapeutics, Septerna, and Rapport Therapeutics. With the new fund, Goldman said the focus will be on growth-oriented private equity investments in the life sciences, which it’s defining as early- to mid-stage therapeutics companies that have multiple assets. The fund will also invest in life sciences tools and diagnostics companies. Themes and trends that the firm said will shape its investment strategy include precision medicine, genetic medicine, cell therapy, immunotherapy, synthetic biology, and artificial intelligence. The new Goldman fund is managed by the firm’s Life Sciences Investing Group, which was established in 2021 and is led by Amit Sinha, Goldman’s chief investment officer and head of life sciences investing. The fund’s investing team will receive input from an advisory board comprised of academics, clinicians, scientists, and entrepreneurs. “We are in a golden era of innovation in the life sciences, where technological breakthroughs are creating new approaches to diagnosing and treating disease,” Sinha said in a prepared statement. “We believe the current environment provides an attractive opportunity for investing in the next generation of leading life sciences companies. Through our global platform, we seek to be a capital provider of choice and help our companies realize their full potential.” Photo: Peter Foley/Bloomberg, via Getty Images
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