Blackstone unit to invest $350m in pharma company

Blackstone Life Sciences announced that it will lead a $350 million royalty and equity investment in Reata Pharmaceuticals as it works on a potential therapy for a rare Alport syndrome and other rare and serious forms of kidney disease. The investment is to fund the development and potential commercialization of bardoxolone methyl -- an investigational once-daily oral therapy being studied for life-threatening diseases with few or no effective therapies approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “This investment aligns with Blackstone Life Sciences’ mission to help advance promising new medicines to patients with high unmet needs,” said Nicholas Galakatos, the global head of Blackstone Life Sciences. “If approved, bardoxolone has the potential to provide for the first time a therapy that improves the quality of life for tens of thousands of patients around the world suffering from Alport syndrome.” With the investment, Blackstone will support Reata in further developing bardoxolone for CKD in Alport syndrome, autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease and multiple other chronic kidney diseases, said Paris Panayiotopoulos, Blackstone Life Sciences managing director. The strategic investment by Blackstone Life Sciences includes $300 million in return for royalty payments on worldwide net sales of bardoxolone by Reata and its licensees, other than Kyowa Kirin Co. The financing also includes a $50 million investment in 340,793 shares of Reata's Class A common stock at $146.72 per share. Reata will receive the $350 million investment at closing, which is expected to occur on or before June 24. Earlier this month, Dr. Mark McClellan, a physician and economist who has served both the commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, was hired by Blackstone as a senior advisor for the firm’s private equity business lines. He will bring his expertise across the life sciences and healthcare and public sectors to advise on the work of Blackstone Growth and Blackstone Life Sciences. Blackstone’s private equity business saw its assets jump 40% in 2019 to a record $183 billion with inflows of $57 billion for the year. Fourth quarter 2019 inflows were driven by the firm’s latest life sciences fund that attracted $3.2 billion.

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