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Forbes: Leaving Biogen, CEO Scangos to head new firm that battles germs

By Matthew Herper

January 6, 2017

Most drug companies are retreating from the business of creating drugs against viruses and, especially, bacteria. But a well-funded startup being announced today is taking the challenge head-on.

The new company, called Vir Biotechnology, will be lead by George Scangos, who recently stepped down as the chief executive of Biogen, the Cambridge, Mass.-based biotech firm. It will be funded with a still-undetermined sum of hundreds of millions of dollars. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, seeking new solutions for scourges like HIV and tuberculosis, will be among its biggest backers.

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