Japanese telecom and venture capital heavyweight SoftBank Group Corp. led a $1.1 billion investment in privately held biotech Roivant Sciences.

The investment, the largest in a healthcare company, is the first instance where Softbank has backed a drugmaker under its $93 billion SoftBank Vision Fund, according to London's Financial Times.

Roivant acquires late-stage drug candidates abandoned by big pharmaceutical companies due to cost cutting or corporate restructuring.

The Swiss company, which has most of its operations in the U.S., is developing about 14 drug candidates through its private and public subsidiaries.

The most advanced is a treatment for Alzheimer's by Axovant Sciences Ltd.