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Fund of the week: Novo Holdings
Overview and Investment Focus
Novo Holdings is not a typical corporate venture capital fund. It is the wholly owned holding and investment company of the Novo Nordisk Foundation — one of the largest philanthropic foundations in the world — and functions simultaneously as a controlling industrial shareholder, a multi-stage life science
Manufacturing Royalties vs. Sales Royalties: The CDMOs Entering the Royalty Space
When Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies signed a 10-year, $3 billion manufacturing agreement with Regeneron in April 2025, the deal was widely reported as a milestone in U.S. biologics reshoring.
What received considerably less attention was its structural significance for the pharmaceutical royalty market: for the first time at that
The Vintage Year Problem in Royalty Funds: Why 2021 Burned Brightest
Understanding how the biotech funding boom, near-zero interest rates, and inflated entry multiples combined to create a generation of challenged pharma royalty portfolios — and whether 2022, 2023, and 2024 vintages face the same fate.
What Happens to Royalties When a Drug Gets a Label Expansion
Understanding the contractual mechanics, valuation dynamics, and investor risk when a drug's approved indications grow after the deal is signed.
The Weekly Term Sheet (2026-W12)
The week of March 15-21, 2026, marked a notable tempo change in the global life sciences deal landscape. After a blistering W11 that saw over $3.8 billion in new capital raised across biotech equity and convertible offerings, the opening days of W12 were dominated not by headline-grabbing
Skinny Label Infringement: When Carve-Outs Fail and Royalty Streams Bleed
The "skinny label" is a regulatory permission slip to seek approval for fewer than all conditions of use of a reference product. In theory, it enables clean market segmentation: a generic enters for off-patent indications while the innovator's second medical use patent remains commercially intact.
Company of the week: Asahi Kasei
Company Overview and Corporate Structure
Asahi Kasei Corporation (TSE: 3407, OTC: AHKSY) is a Japanese multinational conglomerate founded in May 1931 in Nobeoka, Miyazaki, originally as a producer of ammonia and cellulose fiber. Today it operates across three core segments: Material, Homes, and Healthcare. With approximately 50,000 employees worldwide
Fund of the week: HealthCap IX
Overview and Investment Focus
HealthCap is not a generalist European venture capital firm — it is one of the oldest, most consistent life sciences specialists on the continent. Founded in Stockholm in 1996 by Björn Odlander and Peder Fredrikson, the firm has raised nine successive funds, financed more than 130 companies,
Step-up Provisions in Pharmaceutical Royalty Financings
When Savara sold a royalty on MOLBREEVI to RTW funds in late 2025, the deal included a clause that most observers would have overlooked: if prior-year net sales fell short of a specified threshold, the investor's royalty would jump from 7.0% to 9.5% for the