Blackstone acquired Clarus Ventures, a leading global life sciences investment firm that has raised $2.6bn since its founding. Financial terms were not disclosed. This acquisition launches Blackstone Life Sciences, an industry-leading private investment platform with capabilities to invest across the life-cycle of companies and products within the key life sciences sectors. The business will fill a critical void in the industry, which is seeing unprecedented growth, but lacks the necessary funding to bring medicines and healthcare technologies to market. Blackstone Life Sciences will build on Clarus’ significant domain expertise and record of success, and Blackstone’s experience, operating platform and global scale, to jointly advance breakthrough products to address unmet medical needs. Jon Gray, Blackstone President and Chief Operating Officer, said: “This is a unique moment where rapid advancements in science and technology are creating unprecedented innovation and unparalleled impact on human health. Private capital can play an important role in accelerating the lengthy clinical development process to help bring vital, but underfunded, drugs to market. Building on the foundation of the world-class Clarus team, Blackstone Life Sciences is uniquely suited to provide much needed capital and expertise to this sector.”