Roche builds multiple sclerosis portfolio

Roche has paid an undisclosed sum for a multiple sclerosis drug program developed by Inception 5, a biotech firm formed in 2014 with funding from Roche and Versant Ventures. Inception 5 is based on a University of California, San Francisco, technology for finding small molecules that can repair damaged nerve fibers. It’s one of several build-to-buy companies to emerge from Versant’s drug discovery incubator, Inception Sciences. Versant has now committed $25 million to Pipeline Therapeutics, a new company from the Inception 5 team that’s focused on neuroregeneration.