Lightstone Ventures, ClavystBio, Leaps by Bayer, Polaris Partners, and the Polaris Innovation Fund, along with global life science company Evotec SE, have announced the launch of 65LAB to advance drug discovery and the creation of new therapeutics companies in Singapore.

The first collaboration of its kind in Singapore, 65LAB was initiated by Lightstone Ventures with Evotec to leverage the global capabilities of its partners, including financing, networks, company creation, and drug development expertise, to identify and accelerate the commercialisation of the most promising research from top academic and R&D institutions in Singapore, the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Duke-NUS Medical School (a collaboration between Duke University and NUS).

65LAB aims to combine Evotec's end-to-end integrated R&D platform and product development strength with Singapore's first-class academic and translational science, it's growing biotech infrastructure and capabilities to ultimately create breakthrough therapies with a global health impact.

65LAB was founded to establish a model of long-term partnership to foster future company growth and the development of Singapore's biotech ecosystem. 65LAB selects promising academic projects and invests up to $1.5 million in each project over the course of 18-24 months. The collaboration enables scientists in partner institutions to accelerate their therapeutic innovations through the support of Evotec's Expert-in-Residence, as well as direct access to the life science company's drug discovery, translational and development capabilities across disease areas and therapeutic modalities. Upon completion, projects will be evaluated by 65LAB's board of global investors for further investment and the creation of new companies.