Atlas Venture, based in Cambridge, Mass., has entered into corporate strategic partnership (CSP) agreements with both Amgen, through its venture capital fund, Amgen Ventures, and Novartis. Atlas IX is expected to create and/or fund more than 15 new biotech companies and anticipates these new CSP relationships will be integral parts of facilitating their launch and progression.    

The current intent is to provide Amgen and Novartis with strategic proximity to Atlas Venture's startup formation activities around innovative, potentially high-impact medicines and to catalyze future collaborations around translational research across Atlas Venture's early stage portfolio. 

These CSP relationships are part of an increasingly collaborative early stage biotech ecosystem, bringing venture and pharma interests together. Atlas Venture intends to explore a range of new opportunities with Amgen and Novartis, including co-creation of life sciences startups, formation of asset-centric development projects and helping translate discoveries from ongoing academic collaborations.

"This partnership will enable us to help some of the best and the brightest academic scientists and biotech entrepreneurs get their ideas off the ground," said Mark C. Fishman, president of Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR).

The agreements do not constitute exclusivity or any commitment of Amgen or Novartis to pursue opportunities. Atlas Venture maintains full authority over funding strategy and investment decisions.  This "open market" principle is an important element of these CSP relationships, which are designed to facilitate the partners exploring opportunities of mutual strategic interest.