Dive Brief:
- Amgen announced Tuesday its Swiss subsidiary had invested an undisclosed sum in eHealth Ventures, an Israel-based digital health incubator and multinational consortium, in an effort to expand its pipeline in the rapidly growing field.
- eHealth Ventures launched earlier this year with the backing of the Israeli government, bringing on board Cleveland Clinic, the Israeli health provider Maccabi Healthcare and the Israeli specialty pharma Medison Pharma.
- Amgen will now join the consortium, adding its experience in commercialization and business modeling to the group.
Dive Insight:
The agreement recognizes the importance of Israel as a source of innovation in health and digital technologies, Amgen said in a statement.
"This collaboration with eHealth Ventures is a natural fit for Amgen and will help us expand our digital health pipeline and support the growth of valuable health technology to improve lives of patients across the world," said Corinne Le Goff, senior vice president of Amgen Europe.
Amgen will be the lead biopharmaceutical investor on the team. Together, the consortium hopes to invest in 40 new companies over eight years.
Talor Sax, the eHealth Ventures incubator chief officer, said that having Amgen on board "will deliver invaluable assets and know-how in many areas of digital health innovation, including market input, commercialization of research & development, business modeling, marketing strategies and other services."
The investment comes at a time when biopharma companies are trying to better curate their digital strategies and are making attempts at using different types of technology. Many companies have begun tapping digital technologies to help track drug usage during clinical trials and better engage with patients after drugs are already on the market. Yet, many companies are still not sure the best way to incorporate these advancements into their business.