Arrow: Focus and Flexibility

 
• By Melanie Senior

In October 2003, infectious diseases start-up Arrow Therapeutics' £21 million funding round from four new international VCs and five existing backers topped the ranks of UK biotech fundraisings. The round shows that investors value a broad pipeline, plus well-connected management able to balance focus with opportunism, more than a product in the clinic or a sexy new technology.

Arrow Therapeutics Ltd. 's £21 million ($35 million) funding round announced on October 1, 2003 is already the UK's biggest biotech private financing this year; its second stage is expected to bring that total to £25 million by year-end [See Deal]. Four new investors, led by Atlas Ventures, have provided enough money to take Arrow's lead program, a pre-clinical compound to treat respiratory synctitial virus (RSV), to Phase III and potentially see the company go public in or around 2005.

At first glance, it's unclear what attracted the VCs to Arrow: it has no compound in the clinic, a popular...

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