Gurnet Point Capital, an investment firm focused on the healthcare and life sciences sectors led by Christopher Viehbacher, former chief executive of Sanofi, has launched Boston Pharmaceuticals, a fully-integrated drug development company that says it will offer an alternative model for drug development and commercialization.

Boston Pharmaceuticals will partner with academic, biotechnology and biopharmaceutical groups to acquire clinical assets at various stages of their development. The company is composed of a small team of clinical development experts operating with the efficiency of a small company and building a substantial portfolio of clinical and commercial assets. Boston Pharmaceuticals is agnostic to therapeutic area specialization, focused instead on validated mechanisms of action of targeted diseases and efficiently achieving robust clinical and regulatory endpoints. The group will assume the risk of clinical development in de-risking the clinical assets and creating value for patients. The company’s focus is around development phase of drug R&D; small team of clinical development and regulatory experts; virtual development through service providers and external experts; validated mechanism of action of targeted diseases; robust clinical endpoints; and sale or commercialization of clinical programs.

By leveraging the executive team’s network of external partners and service providers, the company will develop and launch products from drug development companies and labs worldwide. Through careful selection of disease areas and mechanisms of action, Boston Pharmaceuticals intends to build a portfolio of clinical stage products focused on delivering medicines that greatly improve current treatment options to provide patients with breakthrough solutions for complex diseases.

Mr. Viehbacher will serve as chairman of Boston Pharmaceuticals, and Robert Armstrong, the former head of external R&D at Chorus (Eli Lilly), will be chief executive officer.

“This is a new way to develop and to bring to market innovative medicines,” said Mr. Viehbacher. “We believe that the combination of our dedicated capital pool and extensive industry expertise will give Boston Pharmaceuticals a significant competitive advantage in this space. In today’s world of enhanced scientific progress, but constrained financial resources for R&D, Boston Pharmaceuticals offers an efficient means to de-risk and unlock value in early stage assets that might not otherwise be developed. The company has significant capital resources from Gurnet Point Capital and a long-term investment horizon, meaning Boston Pharmaceuticals can focus resources toward the development of innovative medicines in a unique way.”

Mr. Armstong said, “The company seeks to put novel medicines that are IND-ready or beyond into its development framework. We are acquiring molecules outright or through licensing, to take on the risk of development. Our principle focus is to develop these assets through to proof-of-concept, and often through late-stage clinical trials, registration and commercialization. Boston Pharmaceuticals’ objective is to subject each new product to the most rigorous studies, establishing clinical benefit and minimizing development risks. We aim to have a large portfolio of programs encompassing both large and small molecules across multiple therapeutic areas. By not having any imperatives other then the successful development of its molecules, Boston Pharmaceuticals will be in the most unbiased position to exploit their full potential.”