NewCos: the new exit strategy?

In this week’s Expert View, Lisa Urquhart sets out how the rise of the NewCo model is reshaping biotech dealmaking, offering Asian drug developers new exit routes and Western investors cleaner exposure to derisked assets. 

Neok Biotech’s $75 million series A venture round, which took the California-based biotech out of stealth mode, was not the largest fundraising event in November. However, it highlighted a rapidly growing investment trend: the rise of the NewCo.

Neok was specifically established to advance two bispecific antibody conjugates for gastrointestinal and gynecological cancers. These assets were spun out from South Korean biotech ABL Bio (Kosdaq: 298380), which is acting as the principal venture investor for the new entity.