Lonza Signs Exclusive Agreement with Index Ventures for the Development and Manufacture of Biologics for Portfolio Companies  

• Five year agreement includes all companies where Index Ventures will be the majority shareholder  
• Product list will expand as future investments are made  

Basel, Switzerland and London, United Kingdom, 9 January 2014 - Lonza, a global leader in biological manufacturing and Index Ventures, LLP, a leading venture capital investment firm, announced today an exclusive agreement for process development and cGMP production for all biological products in the portfolio of companies where Index is the major investor.   

Over the course of the agreement, additional development and manufacturing projects will be added to the product list, as future investments are made by Index.  

“This agreement shows that Lonza’s value to a company’s product development pipeline is being recognized more widely by investors in biotech companies,” said Dr. Stephan Kutzer, COO Lonza Pharma&Biotech. “This multi-product agreement demonstrates Lonza’s ability to offer world-class expression platforms in combination with secure manufacturing capabilities for the complete product lifecycle.”    

Kevin Johnson, Partner at Index Ventures commented, “Lonza has manufactured the majority of the antibody products I’ve worked on in the last 20 years and proved to be an excellent partner. I’m pleased that we’re now able to extend that expertise to our asset-centric portfolio companies, enabling them to benefit as though they were much larger organisations.”      

About Index Ventures
Index Ventures is a leading global venture capital firm active in technology and biotechnology venture investing since 1996. In the life sciences field, Index invests in companies with disruptive platform technologies capable of growing into global leaders. It has also pioneered the “asset-centric” investment model, focused on investing in single assets with the potential to be first or best in class. In March 2012, Index launched its first fund dedicated to life sciences. The $200 million fund includes investment from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and the venture capital affiliate of the Janssen pharmaceutical companies, part of Johnson & Johnson. The fund follows Index's "asset centric" model, focusing on investment in companies with just one or two projects, rather than with multiple programs.