PRINT THIS PAGE Apax backs Bayer drug unit in $32m spin-out 24/08/2004. Source: AltAssets. 
 Global private equity firm Apax Partners has backed the $32m spin-out of a specialist drug development unit from pharmaceutical group Bayer. The newly formed company is called Aerovance and will be dedicated exclusively to developing and commercialising biologic treatments for respiratory diseases.
Apax has been joined in the investment by Burrill and Co, Lehman Brothers and NGN Capital. Bayer will retain a minority stake in the new business in return for spinning out the rights to two lead products.
The transaction reflects both the desire of pharmaceutical companies to manage aggressively the rocketing costs of drug development and the appetite among private equity firms for emerging biotech therapies.
Dr Lori Rafield, who leads Apax Partners' US Healthcare team, said: 'The success of novel respiratory therapeutics launched in recent years underscores the unmet medical need for safer and more effective products.
'The formation of Aerovance is a great example of Apax Partner's ability to create solutions that provide strategic alternatives to the healthcare industry and identify attractive new opportunities in drug development,' he said.
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