A USA fund seeks to in-license 4-6 IND-ready assets and develop them through Phase 2b. After proof-of-concept is established, the firm will seek to exit. Roughly 90% of the fund will be used to fund development, with clinical trials carried out by the firm. They are particularly interested in therapeutics falling in the sectors of neuroscience and immunology.
The firm is seeking small molecules and biologics in the areas of neuroscience and immunology that can improve patient lives. The firm does not consider drugs for highly crowded spaces, for example oncology or disease-modifying drugs for Alzheimer’s. Levadopa-induced dyskinesia in Parkinson’s and ataxia have been areas of interest, and they will consider therapeutics for orphan and rare diseases. Drug platforms addressing self-similar indications/targets are also of interest.
The firm looks for IND-ready drugs that can be developed or re-purposed, and will conduct a thorough due diligence taking 6 months to a year. The opportunity should have a clear regulatory and development pathway and good prospects for an exit within 4 years of acquisition. With strong scientific backgrounds themselves, the firm respects the expertise of the innovators. The firm will work with founders to arrange a deal, and are open to negotiating option agreements.
If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email mandates@lifesciencenation.com.
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Ravi Mistry is a leader, entrepreneur, angel investor, educator and mentor. His professional career has spanned the life sciences, technology, non-profits, and academics as Founder, Board Chairman/Director, President, Vice President, Sr. Director, Manager, and Adjunct Professor. He brings experience covering all areas of business operations. He has managed closing of Seed, Series A/B funding totaling over $35M. Ravi served as VP/BizDev at MedTree, a life sciences start-up, and as Executive Director of Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar Foundation to raise endowment funds. Previously, Ravi was member of founding team of Virident Systems, a technology startup acquired by HGST/Western Digital. Ravi has held management positions in the life sciences companies DiscoveRx (acquired by Eurobond) and BioImagene (acquired by Roche). He is Gold Medalist from Gujarat University, India, with a bachelor’s degree in Engineering. He received his Master’s in Engineering from Stanford, and an MBA in Finance from CSUEB.
Sara is responsible for building the Biotech Portfolio. She led the negotiation of ZIP Solutions license to a world top-3 bioprocessing company based in Germany which led to ZIP Solutions’ sale to Bionaturis. She sits at the board of Agrasys, Avizorex, BDI, Innoup Pharma, Leukos, Oncostellae, VLP and is a Board Observer at Edesa Biotech. She worked for Chevron Technology Ventures, the corporate Venture Capital group based in California with USD 210 MM under management. As Director of Spin Outs for the University of Barcelona, she was involved in starting and financing over 25 technology start ups and she negotiated numerous technology licenses. She has worked extensively in the USA, Latin America and Europe. Sara holds a BS in Chemistry, MSc from Indiana University and an MBA from the London Business School.
Marco is Partner at Forbion Capital Partners and joined the firm in 2007. He has a background in molecular biology and biotechnology and brings operational and business development experience from both small and large businesses. Before joining Forbion Marco was Business Development Director and project manager at DSM Pharmaceutical Products and scientist at Cytos Biotechnology in Switzerland. He serves on the Board of Directors of Inflazome, NorthSea Therapeutics, Milestone Pharmaceuticals, Escalier Biosciences, RSPR Pharma, and Engene. After obtaining a master’s degree in molecular biology from the University of Groningen, Marco received his PhD in biotechnology from the ETH Institute for Technology in Zürich, and completed part of his research at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology of the Medical Research Council in Cambridge, UK.
Harvey is a Partner at Apollo Ventures, a life science venture capital firm and life science company builder working across Europe and North America. At Apollo, Harvey is working on the meaningful and future focused topic of health and biomedicine to make a difference. At Apollo, Harvey combines his entrepreneurial spirit and enthusiasm for finance to assess business opportunities and assist portfolio companies with strategy and venture development. Before joining Apollo, Harvey worked at the investment bank Lazard, where he conducted M&A activities on both buy and sell side mandates. He was also one of the first employees at the FinTech startup N26, where he was responsible for talent acquisition and setting up the customer support function. During his studies he co-founded his first NGO and has launched two other tech startups. Harvey holds a degree in International Business with a major in Finance from Maastricht University.
Roel Bulthuis is a Managing Director and head of the Healthcare investment team at INKEF Capital. Roel combines close to 20 years of experience across venture capital, pharma business development and M&A and healthcare investment banking. Prior to joining INKEF he served as SVP and Managing Director of M-Ventures which he created and developed into a leading CVC fund. Prior to that, he served in senior positions in global business development and M&A at Merck Serono and in the healthcare investment banking team at Fortis Bank. Roel is a Kauffman Fellow and passionate about continuously challenging the status quo. Roel holds a Msc. in Biopharmaceutical Sciences from Leiden University and an MBA in Finance from the Helsinki School of Economics.
