Who'll Stop the Pain?
News that GlaxoSmithKline signed a $1.5 billion anti-inflammatory drug development deal with Germany-based Cellzome AG should be music to venture capital ears. Cellzome raised around $113 million in VC funding since 2000, from firms like Atlas Venture, SV Life Sciences, Advent International and Index Ventures -- and is one of a burgeoning number of pain-oriented pharmaceutical startups. Investment peaked last year, with VCs investing more than $720 million in 49 companies addressing pain, the largest amount they’ve invested in at least 10 years, according to Thomson Reuters (publisher of VCJ). Startups developing pain-relieving drugs make up the bulk of the fundings (21 such companies attracted more than $400 million last year), with device makers and others rounding out the total. The payoff could be huge
