The collaboration will support the advancement of life sciences companies in Greater Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA (Dec. 20, 2023) – Hatch BioFund Management, LLC (“Hatch BioFund”), an early- stage life sciences venture capital firm headquartered in the Philadelphia region, and Brandywine Realty Trust (“Brandywine”), one of the largest, publicly traded, full-service, integrated real estate companies in the United States, announced today a new partnership to support the advancement of life sciences companies in Greater Philadelphia.
“We are proud that Brandywine selected Hatch BioFund as its investment partner,” said Lorenzo Pellegrini, Ph.D., managing partner of Hatch BioFund. “Brandywine’s platform will be invaluable in our team’s effort to support the growth of exceptional life science entrepreneurs in the Greater Philadelphia region. Our unique expertise and range of complementary stakeholders provide crucial support and connection points for these growing organizations.”
Formed in 2023, Hatch BioFund provides early-stage capital to promising life science companies, along with access to deep industry expertise and physical platforms to help them realize their missions. In addition to Brandywine, partners include Daiichi Sankyo, a leading, global pharmaceutical company; the Hepatitis B Foundation, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization solely dedicated to finding a cure for hepatitis B, and the Foundation’s research arm, the Blumberg Institute; and two very successful life science incubator/accelerators: the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center, located in Doylestown, Pa., and B+labs, located in the University City section of Philadelphia, Pa.
“We are delighted to welcome Hatch BioFund to our growing network of life science partners,” said Jerry Sweeney, president and CEO of Brandywine Realty Trust. “This collaboration underscores our commitment to the Greater Philadelphia region and to ensuring that Philadelphia continues to advance its reputation as a center for novel medicine discovery and development.”
“We welcome Brandywine to Hatch BioFund,” said Stu Mackey, Global Head of Business Development, Daiichi Sankyo. “At Daiichi Sankyo, we are committed to exploring and investing in a variety of avenues to improve health and extend lives. We are proud to partner with Hatch BioFund to support the advancement of innovative companies that share our goal of delivering important medicines to our global community.”
“Access to elite lab and office spaces in the context of a collaborative network is a key determinant to success for nascent biotech companies,” said Louis Kassa, a founder of Hatch BioFund and the CEO of the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center (PABC), Blumberg Institute and Hepatitis B Foundation. “Our organizations look forward to working with Brandywine, Daiichi Sankyo and Hatch BioFund to provide a fertile environment for our incubator companies and develop the Philadelphia region as a major biotech hub.”
Philadelphia has long been a city recognized around the globe for its world-class research institutions and clinical expertise. This reputation was further strengthened by the recent clinical success of advanced therapies being forged in the city, including the first FDA-approved cell and gene therapies and the Nobel Prize-winning research that led to the development of highly effective, mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccines. Additionally, Philadelphia was recently named one of five regions in the country to receive a biotechnology hub designation from the Biden administration.
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About Brandywine Realty Trust
Brandywine Realty Trust (NYSE: BDN) is one of the largest, publicly traded, full-service, integrated real estate companies in the United States with a core focus in the Philadelphia and Austin markets. Organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT), we own, develop, lease and manage an urban, town center and transit-oriented portfolio comprising 160 properties and 22.6 million square feet as of Sept. 30, 2023, which excludes assets held for sale. Our purpose is to shape, connect and inspire the world around us through our expertise, the relationships we foster, the communities in which we live and work, and the history we build together. For more information, please visit www.brandywinerealty.com.
About Hatch BioFund
Hatch Biofund is a life sciences venture capital firm headquartered in the Philadelphia region, one of the fastest-growing biotech hubs in the world. At Hatch, we provide early-stage capital to promising life science companies, along with access to deep industry expertise and physical platforms to help them realize their missions. We put collaboration at the center of everything we do, with a core mission of delivering key support to exceptional entrepreneurs working on life-changing scientific solutions. We are proud to include highly successful pharma companies, real estate developers, research institutions and biotech incubators among our partners. They provide us and our portfolio companies with unique expertise and synergies. We are committed to working closely with our partners to meet our investment returns goals and their strategic objectives. For more information, please visit www.hatchbiofund.com.
About Daiichi Sankyo
Daiichi Sankyo is an innovative global healthcare company contributing to the sustainable development of society that discovers, develops and delivers new standards of care to enrich the quality of life around the world. With more than 120 years of experience, Daiichi Sankyo leverages its world-class science and technology to create new modalities and innovative medicines for people with cancer, cardiovascular and other diseases with high unmet medical need. For more information, please visit www.daiichisankyo.com.
About the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center
Located in Doylestown, Pa., in the heart of the Philadelphia-New Jersey pharma belt, the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center (PABC) is a nonprofit life sciences incubator-accelerator offering state-of-the-art laboratory and office space to nearly 50 early-stage biotech companies. The PABC uses a highly successful services-based approach to nurture and guide its member companies to success, advancing biotechnology, maximizing synergies among nonprofit scientists and their commercial colleagues, and launching new ideas and discoveries. To date, more than 75 companies have called PABC their home. PABC tenants account for 17% of all NIH SBIR grants awarded in Pennsylvania and over the years have created billions of dollars in market value from IPOs, acquisitions and commercial valuations. For more information, please visit www.pabiotechbc.org.
About B+labs
B+labs is a newly constructed, state-of-the-art, 50,000-square-foot life sciences incubator in the heart of University City, Philadelphia, a hub for top talent and renowned healthcare and academic institutions. Powered by the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center (PABC), it provides flexible plug & play lab and research space within a specialized network of resources, programming, and expertise. B+labs is part of Brandywine's Life Science ecosystem, which provides life science companies with the platform to grow into bigger users in the region, with flexibility for seamless expansion into larger graduation space. For more information, please visit www.brandywinerealty.com/blabs.
About the Hepatitis B Foundation and the Blumberg Institute
The Foundation is the nation’s leading nonprofit organization solely dedicated to finding a cure for hepatitis B and improving the quality of life for those affected worldwide through research, education and patient advocacy. Founded in 1991, the Hepatitis B Foundation is based in Doylestown, Pa., with offices in Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia. In 2003, the Foundation launched the Blumberg Institute as an independent, nonprofit research organization to advance its research mission. Today, the Institute is one of the nation’s leading centers for translational research in hepatitis B and liver cancer. The Institute supports drug discovery, biomarker discovery and translational biotechnology around common research themes such as chronic hepatitis, liver disease and liver cancer in an environment conducive to interaction, collaboration and focus. For more information, please visit www.hepb.org.