Avalon Ventures and GlaxoSmithKline launch two new companies

Avalon Ventures today announced the launch of two new companies formed through its collaboration with UK pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK) to fund and launch up to 10 early-stage life science companies.

Silarus Therapeutics and Thyritope Biosciences each will receive up to $10 million in Series A financing and R&D support from Avalon Ventures and GSK. Both companies will be located at COI Pharmaceuticals in San Diego, the community of innovation established by Avalon Ventures to provide operational support, a fully-equipped R&D facility and an experienced leadership team to its life science portfolio companies.

"Our collaboration with GSK represents a new model for driving early-stage drug discovery," said Jay Lichter, managing director of Avalon Ventures, adding: "By combining the nimble start-up mentality of Avalon with the unmatched R&D expertise and resources of a global pharmaceutical giant like GSK, in less than 18 months we have launched three new companies in diverse therapeutic areas and completed our first compound screen for drug candidate identification in a robust collaboration with GSK. This collaboration has exceeded my expectations in terms of what we've been able to accomplish on such a short timescale."