Canaan Partners Appoints Tim Shannon, M.D. as Venture Partner
Former CuraGen Executive to Strengthen Firm's East Coast Presence
WESTPORT, Conn., Dec. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Canaan Partners, a multibillion-dollar global venture capital firm, announced today the appointment of Tim Shannon, M.D., to venture partner. Dr. Shannon is based in Canaan's Westport, Connecticut office, from where he will support the firm's current healthcare portfolio companies and identify new investment opportunities. Dr. Shannon brings more than 15 years of biopharmaceutical operational experience leading product and business development to Canaan's investments. He was most recently president and chief executive officer at CuraGen Corporation, a publicly-held biopharmaceutical company focused on oncology, which was acquired by Celldex Therapeutics in October 2009.
"Tim is a key addition to the firm's healthcare team, particularly as the investment climate and capital markets become more active again," said Stephen Bloch, M.D., general partner with Canaan Partners. "His combination of experience as a biopharmaceutical executive and practicing physician will give him a unique perspective as he approaches new investments."
Dr. Shannon's previous appointments at CuraGen included executive vice president of R&D and chief medical officer. Prior to CuraGen, he held positions of increasing responsibility for Bayer's Pharmaceutical Business Group including senior vice president of global medical development. He led the worldwide organization responsible for the medical development and safety of Bayer's portfolio of products including Cipro® and Nexavar® as well as numerous investigational drug products. During his career in biopharmaceuticals he also had leadership roles in portfolio management and business transactions, including in- and out- licensing and mergers and acquisitions. In addition to his biopharmaceutical experience, Dr. Shannon began his career as assistant professor of medicine in the pulmonary and critical care division at Yale University School of Medicine and as an attending physician in pulmonary and critical care medicine at the West Haven V.A. Medical Center. He is a director at Celldex Therapeutics and a member of the Quality Assurance, Compliance and Safety Committee for the Yale Cancer Center.
"I am excited to join the highly successful Canaan team and help shape investments using insight from a day-to-day, operational perspective," said Dr. Shannon. "I was drawn to the team's intellect and entrepreneurial nature, and am impressed by the thoughtfulness and speed in which they approach transactions in their current portfolio as well as new investment opportunities."
About Canaan Partners
Canaan Partners invests in visionary entrepreneurs and provides them the networks, insights and operational guidance required to build high-performance technology and healthcare companies. Founded in 1987, the firm has raised eight funds and completed more than 77 acquisitions and 52 IPOs. With $3 billion under management and a worldwide footprint, the firm's healthcare team is committed to catalyzing the growth of biopharmaceutical, medical device and diagnostics companies that are revolutionizing the practice of medicine. Among its successes are BiPar Sciences, pioneering PARP inhibitors for novel tumor-selective cancer therapies; Cerexa Inc., one of the largest biotech acquisitions of 2007; DexCom Inc., the largest diagnostics IPO of 2005; and Amicus Therapeutics, developing pharmacological chaperones to treat rare genetic diseases. Other Canaan healthcare investments include Advanced BioHealing, Calibra Medical, Chimerix, Inc., Liquidia Technologies, Transcend Medical and VaxInnate. Canaan has offices in California, Connecticut, India and Israel. For more information visit www.canaan.com.