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Part 3: The future of biotechs M&As: The investors' perspective




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Video title: Part 3: The future of biotechs M&As: The investors' perspective
Released on: June 02, 2009. © PharmaVentures Ltd
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  • Summary
  • Transcript
  • Participants
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Dr Fintan Walton, CEO of PharmaVentures, asked a panel of leading industry fund managers how they are tailoring funds to ensure maximum return and the future of biotech M&A. They discuss:

· Benefits of the current investment strategies used and new models for M&A
· Big pharma - how they use their cash in M&A and acquisition and licensing of products
· At what stage deals are being financed, and who is investing in early stage companies
· Relationships with investors on risk sharing
· When the "IPO window will re-open"
· Exit strategies, and where the most successful have been coming from

This panel discussion was the 3rd in a series filmed by PharmaTelevision at the thought leadership conference, "Financing and Deal Making in the New Landscape", held by PharmaVentures and UKTI at The British Consulate General in Cambridge, MA.
Full video transcripts are available with PharmaTelevision Premium Content. Click here to buy a subscription or sign up for a 14 day free trial.
IPO market and focus on M&A.
Fintan Walton:
So a question for you Campbell, it is going back to this issue of exits and so forth, what's your view? Do you think that there is you mentioned in your one of your answers you never know the IPO market come back in 2010 or something got to miss quote into that but ?
Campbell Murray:
I said 2012.
Gordon Winston:
I was miss quoting you there. You know how realistic from your perspective is that going to happen? I mean ?
Campbell Murray:
I think about
Fintan Walton:
Shouldn't you now just sort of say look we are gonna pre bake deals for trade for trade sales, forget about IPO's and is there a danger because you need two different types of management different management for taking the company for a trade sale to one whose gonna take do an IPO?
Full video transcripts are available with PharmaTelevision Premium Content. Click here to buy a subscription or sign up for a 14 day free trial.
Campbell Murray
Managing Director
Gordon Winston joined DRI Capital as Executive Vice President, Finance in September of 2002. Prior to this appointment, Gordon Winston served as a consultant to Wesbild Capital Corporation, Inc., a subsidiary of Inwest Investments Ltd. In this capacity he was responsible for evaluating private and public market investment opportunities and managed a $25 million portfolio. Gordon has held a number of senior positions with Wall Street investment banks and with boutique merchant banks. These include Lehman Brothers, Kidder, Peabody & Company, and Hamilton Capital Group Ltd., where Gordon contributed to key finance agreements with life sciences companies. Gordon received his Bachelor of Sciences in Economics from Fordham University. Mark Carthy, Managing Partner Orion Healthcare Equity Partners Mark Carthy co-founded Orion Healthcare Equity Partners in 2007. Mark Carthy has 22 years of operating and investment experience in healthcare companies. Mark Carthy joined Oxford in 2000 and became General Partner in 2001. At Oxford, Mark Carthy was responsible for 13 investments totaling $117 million in committed capital. Before joining Oxford, he was Biotechnology Portfolio Manager at Morningside Ventures where he focused on early stage private equity investments. Previously, he was Chief Business Officer of Cubist Pharmaceuticals, where he in-licensed Cubicin, Cubist's commercial antibiotic which reached annual sales of $414.7 million in 2008. Mark Carthy was also Senior Director of Business Development at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. He received his B.E. in Chemical Engineering from University College Dublin, Ireland and an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of Missouri. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School in 1987. Mark Carthy was recently listed on the Forbes 2009 Midas List as one of the leading venture capitalists. About Kenneth Greenberg, MD " Principal -- MPM Capital Dr. Kenneth Greenberg joined MPM Capital from McKinsey & Co., where he worked on R&D and corporate strategy for life science companies, and on buyout transactions for private equity clients. Prior to joining McKinsey, Dr. Kenneth Greenberg advised biotechnology and medical device companies as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch. He also worked at Health Market, a health insurance company, where he oversaw disease management programs. Dr. Kenneth Greenberg earned his M.D. at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating with AOA honors, and subsequently trained as an ophthalmology resident at Johns Hopkins. He holds an M.B.A. from the Wharton School and a B.A. in Economics from Duke University, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa. About Dr. Campbell Murray, Managing Director -- Novartis Venture funds in Cambridge, MA, USA. Prior to joining the venture fund in 2005, he worked at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research as the director of special projects reporting to the president & CEO. Campbell Murray, is a New Zealand trained physician, Kauffman Fellow and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an MPP (public policy) from the John F. Kennedy School of Government where he was a Knox Fellow and Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar. Campbell Murray serves as a director on the boards of Aileron Therapeutics, Akebia Therapeutics, Alios BioPharm, BioRelix, and ProCertus BioPharm and as an observer on the board of MicroCHIPS and Tepha.
DRI Capital
DRI Capital manages a fund that acquires royalties from pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in addition to research institutes, universities and inventors. Acquisition criteria are not limited to any specific therapeutic category and there is a preference for products that have been approved by the FDA and/or the EMEA. Because the investments are long-term in nature the strength of the underlying intellectual property is critical. The DRI Capital team of investment professionals has extensive asset valuation skills, industry assessment expertise and global financial market knowledge to offer industry-leading deal execution. MPM CapitalMPM Capital invests in biotechnology, specialty pharma, medical technology, and related companies that provide innovative medical products and requisite services to the healthcare industry, irrespective of geography, stage of development and therapeutic area. They seek to maximize value creation by focusing on inflection points in the development of companies, such as the achievement of clinical proof-of-concept data, the achievement of early commercial success, and by reinvigorating commercial platforms with potentially high growth assets. They believe that by investing at or near a company's value inflection points, and by lending our internal expertise to management teams, they can often significantly accelerate the development of a company. Also with their commitment to build companies, they can help focus a company's investments on the projects and opportunities with the highest reward/risk ratio. Novartis Venture FundNovartis Venture funds (NVF) currently manages more than USD 650M across all their funds and have expanded the investment teams in their two locations Switzerland and USA. In 2008 their portfolio increased by seven new investments and now comprises over 50 companies, making the Novartis Venture funds one of the world's largest corporate biotech venture funds. Including the commitment of the investors, about USD 2B is currently invested in total into Novartis Venture funds portfolio companies. The demonstrated significant liquidity events over the past decade continued this year and they are confident in their purpose and their ability to provide value beyond their investment dollars. Their primary focus will remain on the development of novel therapeutics and platforms. They balance the therapeutic focus with investments in medical devices, diagnosticsor drug delivery systems. In their investments they look for unmet need and clinical impact, novel proprietary science and understanding of mechanism, management and board experience and capital efficiency in the program. Orion Healthcare Equity PartnersOrion Healthcare Equity Partners, founded by Mark Carthy, who has left Oxford Bioscience Partners, and Jo"l Besse, formerly of Atlas Venture, is seeking a $250 million fund to invest in both sides of the Atlantic, according to people familiar with the effort. The new firm will maintain offices in London and Boston and expects to bring aboard additional partners later this month or early next. Orion Healthcare Equity Partners apparently will pursue clinical-stage companies or assets in the U.S. and Europe. It's unclear whether the firm would attempt relocate assets from one continent to the other, but that seems to be a possibility. Carthy and Besse certainly have expertise in straddling the Atlantic. While at Oxford, Carthy served on the board of UK-based Solexa Ltd., the genomic sequencing company that would be acquired by Illumina Inc. He also represented Oxford in it's investment in another UK company, PowderMed Ltd., which Pfizer would acquire after several Trans-Atlantic transactions. Meanwhile, Besse managed many of Atlas' European investments from it's London office. He was among the founding investors in publicly traded Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd and Novuspharma S.p.A.