Lilly Asia Ventures China

Lilly Asia Ventures is the venture capital arm of Eli Lilly that focuses on investments in the life sciences in Asia, particularly China. The firm was established in 2008 and is based in Shanghai, China. The firm is stage agnostic; investing in early, growth, and up to pre-IPO opportunities. The firm’s investment size is USD 5-20 million per company. The firm primarily invests in companies in China, but is open to companies across Asia-Pacific as long as there is some sort of China angle. The firm is actively seeking new investment opportunities.

Lilly Asia Ventures primarily focuses on therapeutics but is also interested in medical devices, diagnostics, animal health, and biotech other. The firm is most interested in products that will have a significant impact on medical care in China. For therapeutics, the firm seeks best-in-class or first-in-class products. The firm is opportunistic to the indication and the phase of development and will consider products in pre-clinical up to NDA. Historically, the firm invests in therapeutics for oncology, inflammatory diseases, and metabolic disorders.

Biotech Phase of Development
Medtech Phase of Development
Capital Structure Preference
Investment Stage Preference
Judith Li
Principal 
Michael Zhang
Investment Manager 

McDermott Will & Emery United States

McDermott Will & Emery is a premier international law firm with a unique focus in representing life sciences companies and investors in a wide variety of transactional, intellectual property and regulatory matters.  Through our Life Sciences Entrepreneurs Acceleration Program ("LEAP") we provide early stage medical device, pharmaceutical, biotechnology and diagnostic companies access to sophisticated legal services.  Learn more here: http://www.mwe.com/leap/

Website:
www.mwe.com
Service Provider Type
Medtech Phase of Development
Unique Capabilities
Life Sciences Entrepreneurs Acceleration Program (LEAP)

McDermott Will & Emery is dedicated to investing in innovation and serving the early stage life sciences community that creates new and revolutionary products and services. We understand that sophisticated legal services are necessary to help these groundbreaking individuals and organizations succeed. McDermott is proud to have created the Life Sciences Entrepreneurs Acceleration Program (LEAP) to help qualifying entrepreneurs and young companies avoid costly mistakes and chart their courses to success by providing support and affordable access to strategic legal advice. We provide these organizations with high quality legal services during the earliest stages of corporate life through engagement incentives in the form of deferred fees, discounts, fixed-fee arrangements and/or awards.

We understand that early stage life sciences clients need legal advice in such complex areas as corporate formation, financing, intellectual property, licensing and collaborations, and employee benefits. Our Life Sciences Industry Group has a deep bench of lawyers that are highly regarded in these specific practices. Our corporate lawyers have demonstrated success in advising life sciences companies on the full range of transactional legal needs, including licensing and partnering, mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, public offerings and royalty stream financing. Our intellectual property lawyers are renowned for protecting the IP rights of our clients both in and out of court. Finally, McDermott is a pioneer in the field of employee benefits and has been advising life sciences companies on various compensation strategies to both secure and maintain leadership.

Mr Glenn Engelmann
Vice Chair, Life Sciences McDermott Will & Emery 
Byron Kalogerou
Kristian Werling
Partner 

McGuireWoods LLP United States

Emerging, middle-market and established companies alike require sophisticated legal representation that is cost-effective and capable of responding to the rapidly changing demands of regulators and customers. As counsel to domestic and global life sciences companies at every stage of development, the Life Sciences industry group at McGuireWoods offers clients a single, coordinated team of lawyers with deep, varied experience. Our clients recognize that they are treated as firm clients and not as those of a single practitioner or office location.

We counsel clients in all major areas of law affecting life sciences businesses and at every step in the product lifecycle. We provide guidance on corporate transactions and matters involving company structure and formation, financing, facilities acquisition and leasing, and vendor contracts. We have extensive experience in healthcare and life sciences-related regulatory requirements, including compliance audits and policies, FDA notification and approvals, development of pricing programs, and reimbursement and third-party payor processes.

Regulatory policies walk hand in hand with legislative mandates. In conjunction with our full-service public affairs subsidiary, McGuireWoods Consulting, we provide strategic communications and government relations guidance that helps businesses and industry coalitions shape pending legislation and respond to state and federal initiatives.

When disputes or law enforcement investigations arise, we provide aggressive defense against allegations of theft, product liability and mass torts. We represent clients facing government inquiries and administrative actions involving a broad range of issues, from securities disclosures and financial accounting rules to data privacy, antitrust and other compliance requirements. We also investigate and vigorously pursue counterfeiters, gray marketers and abusers of supply chain systems.

As life sciences businesses grow and transform, capital sourcing and other forms of financing become an important concern. We represent clients in negotiations with private equity investors, commercial banks and other financial institutions. Similarly, our depth of experience in public offerings and middle-market mergers and acquisitions adds value to growth and technology companies when exploring liquidity events.

While life sciences businesses share many of the same concerns as companies in other industries, these issues must be addressed in the context of this highly regulated sector of the economy. Our multidisciplinary team of lawyers provides broad-spectrum, coordinated counsel on all major areas of law affecting clients’ operations and strategy. These core areas of service include labor and employment, intellectual property, state and local taxation, and international trade. Our experience in these and other areas of law enables us to provide prompt, effective counsel in the dynamic life sciences marketplace.

Year Founded
1834
Service Provider Type
Medtech Phase of Development
Unique Capabilities

Emerging growth companies in today’s life sciences industry confront a growing list of regulatory and business demands. Such companies are often financially constrained; however, there is still need for sophisticated legal representation that can be executed thoughtfully and efficiently.

McGuireWoods represents emerging private and public companies at every stage of their development, from relatively small enterprises to multibillion-dollar medical device, pharmaceutical and biotech corporations. We provide counsel and advice on entity formation and review, recommend and negotiate financing options, and provide corresponding tax advice.

McGuireWoods also has an international reputation for merger and acquisition work, representing buyers and sellers in acquisitions, divestitures and joint ventures. As part of these transactions, we regularly negotiate corporate and limited-liability buy/sell agreements, stock option or other equity plans and agreements, and employment agreements.

In the intellectual property arena, we have worked with these companies to establish appropriate protections that can limit or block misuse of IP assets by employees, investors or competitive entities. We have also assisted clients in the transfer of intellectual property rights from individual owners to entities, and in protecting and maintaining those rights during merger or acquisition.

Our FDA team provides life sciences companies with strategic regulatory guidance and preventive liability consulting. At all stages of business growth, McGuireWoods can analyze compliance strategies, prepare and file FDA submissions, provide benchmarking audit and analysis of regulatory and liability postures, establish and monitor applicable internal compliance programs, and guide clients through implementation of new business, research and development initiatives.

Mr Brian Malkin
Mr Brian Malkin
LinkedIn logo Senior Counsel 
BIO

Brian leads the firm’s FDA regulatory teams. He has more than 20 years of food and drug law practice and over nine years of intellectual property law practice. In particular, his practice includes the interrelation between patent law and food and drug law. Brian’s regulatory experience includes all types of FDA-regulated products: drugs (including animal drugs), biologics, medical devices, foods and dietary supplements, tobacco products, and cosmetics. Brian’s intellectual property experience includes FDA and patent litigation for both innovator and generic companies.

Immediately prior to law school, Brian worked as a legislative correspondent in the U.S. Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources. He began his legal career as a regulatory counsel at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, where he worked for more than nine years in both the Office of the Commissioner and the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. At FDA, he focused on new product evaluations, compliance issues related to clinical investigations and intellectual property (e.g., patent term restoration). Brian’s work resulted in new product approvals as well as new industry guidance documents and policies, such as the animal efficacy rule for counter-terrorism products.

Following several years of practice in an FDA law firm, Brian recognized an unmet need to understand both food-and-drug and intellectual-property law for lifecycle management and diligence, particularly concerning products affected by the Hatch-Waxman Act, such as generic and 505(b)(2) new drug applications. As a result, Brian returned to university to obtain a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry. Prior to joining McGuireWoods, he practiced for more than nine years at an intellectual property law firm, where he worked on a variety of new product evaluations, FDA and patent litigations, due diligence projects, patent prosecutions, and licensing and commercial transactions.

Given his particular experiences, Brian frequently is asked to speak and write on numerous FDA- and intellectual-property-law issues, including clinical trials and new product development for complex and challenging products, such as biotechnology products, orphan drugs, generic drugs, 505(b)(2) new drug applications, patent-term restoration under the Hatch-Waxman Act, biosimilar products, tobacco products, patent-term adjustment, risk management and due diligence.

Community

Brian has been actively involved in promoting the biotechnology community locally, nationally and internationally. Locally, Brian is working with BioBuzz to help stimulate a more active bioscience workforce and a more dynamic bioscience industry throughout Maryland, Virginia, the District of Columbia and beyond. In February 2014, Brian worked with the Montgomery County Department of Economic Development to present a program on “Innovative Strategies for New Product Development.” Brian also is working with McGuireWoods to sponsor the 2014 Biomanufacturing Technology Summit (biosimilars) to be held in June 2014 by the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research at the University of Maryland. In addition, Brian served on a board of judges for a local entrepreneur contest for a chemical and life sciences class at the University of Maryland’s Mtech Biotechnology Research and Education Program. He also currently mentors two health law students through a program coordinated by the Maryland State Bar Association’s health law group. Nationally and internationally, Brian has networked with biotechnology groups in Maryland, Massachusetts and Washington state, as well as with the Biotechnology Industry Organization. He also has presented at conferences featuring topics such as orphan drugs, biosimilars, and updates from FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. Brian was proud to join McGuireWoods in sponsoring and participating in Life Science Nation’s Redefining Early State Investments Conference, which was held in Boston in March 2014 and featured early-stage life sciences companies, investors and service providers. In November 2013, Brian co-presented a variety of programs for a Korea-Maryland USA Bio Expo in Rockville, Maryland, on the following topics: (1) current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) and its role in regulatory drug quality, (2) current drug shortages and orphan drug disease pharmaceutical development, and (3) innovative strategies for new drug development/biobetters.

Blogging

Brian is a co-editor of McGuireWoods LLP's FDA Life blog which covers news and trends impacting the FDA and life science industry.

Mesa Verde Venture Partners United States

Mesa Verde Venture Partners is a Venture Capital company founded in 2006. The firm is currently making investments out of its 2nd fund that had its first close in 2013. The firm makes primarily equity investment into seed and early stage rounds ranging from $500,000 to $1 million initially and up to $1.5 million over the lifetime of the investment. The firm is focused on companies located in the Southwestern United States although they are open to review companies from throughout the US. The firm could make as many as 3 new investments over the next 6-9 months.

Year Founded
2006
Investor Type
Biotech Phase of Development
Medtech Phase of Development
Capital Structure Preference
Investment Stage Preference
Carey Ng
Managing Director 
Randy Berholtz
Senior Advisor 

Mid Atlantic Bio Angels

Mid Atlantic Bio Angels (MABA) founded in 212 is an angel investor group based in the New York City area which focuses exclusively on new and emerging life science companies. The group places no geographical restrictions or requirements for presenting companies as long as meaningful and effective post-investment monitoring of these companies can be achieved, MABA has considered opportunities in Europe and Israel as well as across the USA and Canada. Since the members are investing their own capital the investment size is highly flexible and will depend on the financial needs of the company. The capital structure is typically in preferred stocks or convertible notes in qualified cases. The group prefers to invest in companies with valuations of less than $5M. As MABA prefers opportunities that can be entirely angel-financed MABA generally requires that companies can achieve exit with $15 million capital or under (generally after raising a Series B round but no further rounds).

Bernard Rudnick
Founder 

National Heart Lung and Blood Institute

The Office of Translational Alliances and Coordination (OTAC) at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute supports the development of innovative biomedical products to address unmet medical needs in the heart, lung, blood and sleep fields.  OTAC is home to the NHLBI's small business programs (SBIR and STTR) and the NIH Centers for Accelerated Innovations.

The NHLBI's SBIR and STTR programs comprise one of the largest sources of early-stage capital for U.S. small business, acting as engines of innovation for developing and commercializing novel technologies and products that aid in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of heart, lung, blood, and sleep diseases and disorders. The NHLBI provides grant and contract funding opportunities and resources to support small businesses performing research and development on technologies related to the mission of NHLBI. With an annual budget of $85M, the NHLBI funds about 200 companies each year through the Institute's small business programs.

The NIH Centers for Accelerated Innovations accelerate translation of scientific discovery into commercial products that improve health for patients. This unique public-private partnership is changing the way discoveries with scientific and commercial potential are identified and developed.

Dr Kurt Marek
Dr Kurt Marek
LinkedIn logo Deputy Director OTAC 
Dr Gary Robinson
Dr Gary Robinson
LinkedIn logo Business Development Specialist 

Prolog Ventures United States

Prolog Ventures is a venture capital firm based out of St. Louis Missouri that was founded in 2001. The firm is currently making investments out of its vintage 2013 4th fund of approximately $100 million. The firm is looking to make equity investments in companies ranging from $500,000 to $3 million. The firm will invest in companies across the United States and plans to make approximately 3-4 investments over the next 6-9 months.

Brian Clevinger
Managing Director 

RCT Ventures

RCT Ventures invests in early-stage life science companies including medical devices, drug discovery platforms, and research tools.

Paul Grand
Paul Grand
LinkedIn logo Managing Director 
BIO

Grand is responsible for sourcing RCT’s investments in medical devices and representing RCT on the boards of its portfolio companies.

Prior to joining RCT, Grand was co-founder and VP Operations of Imagine Pharmaceuticals, which developed a platform to selectively deliver therapeutics and other compounds across the blood brain barrier. He was also co-founder and CEO of MicroSurgeon, which developed a microwave thermal ablation device for the treatment of solid tumors.

Grand has extensive experience in new company formation and fund raising. Since 1990, he has built, operated, recruited management and raised financing for eight high technology, medical device and biotechnology companies. Grand also was a Managing Director for Fruition Ventures, a group of private equity investors focused primarily on tech companies.

Grand is actively involved in programs to encourage bio-entrepreneurship, innovation and commercialization of University technologies. He has lectured, judged business plans, and mentored students and scientists at numerous universities, including UCLA, Stanford, USC, and UCSF. Grand serves as an investment advisor to the LARTA NIH Commercialization Assistance Program for SBIR program awardees. He is on the Oversight Committees for the Coulter Translational Research Partnership Programs at USC and University of Washington. Grand is a reviewer for proof of concept and commercialization-focused funding programs for the University of California system-wide, USC, University of Utah and University of Colorado. 

Grand is a frequent panelist at biomedical conferences. He has spoken at more than 100 conferences, been featured in hundreds of articles in publications including Forbes, New York Times and Wall Street Journal and appeared as an expert on Bloomberg Television, CNN, and CNN/FN. Grand serves as Producer and Host for the MedTech Innovator competition that seeks to discover outstanding early-stage MedTech opportunities - http://medtechinnovator.com

Chad Souvignier
Managing Director 

RiverVest Venture Partners United States

RiverVest Venture Partners is a venture capital firm that was founded in 2000 and is based in St. Louis, Missouri with additional office in Cleveland, Ohio. The firm currently has managed over $208 million of total assets. RiverVest has raised two investment funds with total committed capital of $165 million since inception. The recent fund closed at $75 million. RiverVest typically makes equity investments into global companies, and has no specific geographic preferences. The firm will consider making investments at all the stages, and focuses on investments in seed, early-stage and select later-stage companies. The typical investment size is around $6 million, though the firm can invest more or less, depending on the opportunity. 

RiverVest is extremely opportunistic when it comes to investments in the life sciences space; with that being said RiverVests specified sectors and sub sectors of interest may or may not be an area in which RiverVest is currently looking to allocate capital to. The firm invests in companies in the biotech therapeutics and diagnostics, as well the medical technology space. 

Some of the firms investments have included companies developing biotech therapeutics and diagnostics targeting diseases of the blood and blood forming organs, neoplasms, cancer, and oncology, skin and subcutaneous tissue, cardiovascular diseases, diseases of the ear, and infectious diseases. The firm has also invested in companies developing anti-body based therapeutics. The firm has also invested in firms developing medical technologies such as therapeutic radiation devices, active implantable devices, non active implantable devices, hospital hardware, and imaging devices.

Year Founded
2000
Investor Type
Medtech Phase of Development
Capital Structure Preference
Investment Stage Preference
Karen Spilizewski
VP 

Safeguard Scientifics

Safeguard Scientifics is a publicly traded capital deployment firm founded in 1953 and is based in Wayne PA. The firm makes deployments from an evergreen fund and is actively seeking new investments in the healthcare sector. Initial equity placements are typically of $5-1m with the potential for a total allocation of $2-25m over the life of an investment. The firm focuses on North America with a concentration in the Mid-Atlantic and San Francisco Bay Area regions. Deployments are made at a range of stages from early-stage to growth expansion and recapitalization. Safeguard Scientifics prefers to be a sizable minority investor.
Gary Kurtzman
Managing Director