Blackstone (NYSE:BX) has raised US$6.3 billion for its latest life sciences fund, the largest private vehicle dedicated to the sector.
The fund, Blackstone Life Sciences VI (BXLS VI), was oversubscribed and closed at its hard cap, nearly 40 percent more than its predecessor, which raised US$4.6 billion in 2020.
The vehicle continues Blackstone’s strategy of financing individual drug assets rather than taking equity stakes in companies, targeting programs in advanced clinical stages with defined paths to market.
“Our partnerships with global leaders have delivered 34 regulatory approvals of innovative medicines and devices,” Said Nicholas Galakatos, global head of life sciences at Blackstone.
“This track record highlights how we successfully work with industry leaders to help bring their most important products to patients around the world.”
Since launching the platform in 2018, Blackstone has deployed capital in a series of large transactions involving late-stage assets.
It entered in 2020 US$2 billion cooperation With Alnylam Pharmaceuticals to finance RNA interference therapies. It committed in 2024 US$750 million Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) to support development of mRNA-based influenza vaccines.
More recently, the firm has continued to structure deals around Phase 3 programs. It agreed with Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) to provide US$400 million advance leukemia drug bleximanib, and another US$400 million to Teva (NYSE:TEVA) support development of duvakitug, a monoclonal antibody that targets inflammatory diseases.
Blackstone has also used royalty-based financing structures to finance oncology pipelines. In 2025, it committed US$700 million support development Merck’s (NYSE:MRK) sacituzumab tirumotecan, an antibody-drug conjugate, is being tested for multiple cancers in exchange for a share of future revenues.
The platform has also generated exits. Last year, Blackstone Anthos Therapeutics sold to Novartis (NYSE: NVS) for US$3.1 billion, one of its largest transactions in the sector.
Several treatments backed by the firm have reached the market, including Alnylam’s Emvutra, Novartis’ Lequio, and AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) and Johnson & Johnson’s Imbruvica.
Blackstone said its life sciences platform has achieved an 86 percent regulatory approval rate for Phase 3 assets, which is higher than the industry average. The BXLS platform will have approximately US$15 billion of assets under management by the end of 2025.
don’t forget to follow @INN_LifeScience For real-time updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Gian Liguid, do not have any direct investment interest in any of the companies mentioned in this article.
