Flagship launches first UK-based startup to uncover genes that make cells vulnerable or resistant to disease

A new biotech start­up be­lieves that ge­net­ic di­ver­si­ty found among the tril­lions of cells that com­prise an in­di­vid­ual per­son could hold the keys to new clues for treat­ing or pre­vent­ing dis­ease.

Flag­ship Pi­o­neer­ing, a life sci­ences in­vest­ment firm that builds its own biotech star­tups, an­nounced an ini­tial $50 mil­lion com­mit­ment to Quo­tient Ther­a­peu­tics at its launch from stealth on Tues­day morn­ing.

In a first for Flag­ship, which usu­al­ly keeps its com­pa­nies close to its home base around Boston, Quo­tient launched with the ma­jor­i­ty of its em­ploy­ees in Cam­bridge, UK. A spokesper­son for Flag­ship said the life sci­ences firm’s UK of­fices will of­fi­cial­ly open next week.

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