Flagship Ventures has created a new spot for former Merck EVP and CMO Dr. Michael Rosenblatt, benefiting from the R&D reorg at the pharma. He is joining the venture firm as CMO. Flagship is creating the position with Rosenblatt’s hire.
He has been a Merck ($MRK) exec since 2009; prior to that he held various positions including dean of Tufts University School of Medicine, a professor at Harvard Medical School, president of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and director of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.
"As Merck's first Chief Medical Officer, Mike was a strong advocate for patients' well-being, and we're delighted to have him bring his deep experience and creativity to the Flagship community," said Flagship founder and CEO Noubar Afeyan in a statement.
He added, "As Flagship's CMO, he will play a key role in our partnerships with academic researchers and biopharmaceutical partners, and will support and guide Flagship companies as they conduct clinical research at a rapidly increasing scale."
Rosenblatt is already on the board of Flagship portfolio company Rubius Therapeutics, which he joined in 2015. Flagship launched Rubius late last year with a $25 million investment to back the development of functionalized red blood cells to treat autoimmune conditions, metabolic diseases, cancer and other diseases.
"The fundamental technological and scientific breakthroughs at the heart of Flagship's entrepreneurial innovations have to deliver real value to the patients who take the resulting drugs and the societies who pay for them, and I look forward to helping to bring that perspective as early as possible to the discovery, development, regulatory review and post-approval world,” said Rosenblatt.
- here is the announcement
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