Longwood Raises Fund to Start Biotechnology Companies
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Longwood Founders Management, LLC, a healthcare venture capital firm, today announced the successful closing of its first fund, Longwood Founders Fund, L.P., which was capped at $85 million. Longwood will found, manage, and build biotechnology companies with breakthrough science and the potential to create important new medicines.
Longwood Founders Fund is managed by Partners Rich Aldrich, Michelle Dipp, MD, PhD, and Christoph Westphal, MD, PhD. Members of the Longwood team have founded and built several successful biotechnology companies including Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Alnara Pharmaceuticals, Inc. These companies have discovered and developed important drugs for patients and created significant value for shareholders.
In addition to its leadership team, Longwood Founders Fund has assembled a distinguished strategic advisory board. Board members include Peter Hutt (Former FDA General Counsel), Paul Schimmel (National Academy of Sciences, co-Founder Alnylam), Phil Sharp (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, National Academy of Sciences, Nobel Prize winner and co-founder of Biogen and Alnylam), David Sinclair (Harvard, co-founder of Sirtris), Moncef Slaoui (chairman R&D, GlaxoSmithKline), and Christopher Walsh (Harvard, National Academy of Sciences, Genzyme).
In February 2010, the Fund made its first investment in Alnara Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a company co-founded by members of the Longwood team and Dr. Alexey Margolin. Alnara’s lead drug, liprotamase, is currently awaiting approval by the FDA. In July 2010, Alnara was acquired by Eli Lilly for $180 million cash upfront and a $200 million earn-out. In November of 2010, Longwood founded Verastem, Inc. which is developing drugs to treat cancer using its proprietary cancer stem cell technology. Longwood co-founded Verastem with Piyush Gupta, Eric Lander, and Robert Weinberg.
Investors in Longwood Founders Fund include GlaxoSmithKline, Genzyme, and several institutional investors.
About Longwood Founders Fund, L.P.
Longwood Founders Fund is a healthcare venture capital firm that founds, manages, and builds biotechnology companies. Longwood’s mission is to identify technologies and to found companies that will advance new therapeutics that can not only make a difference in the lives of patients worldwide, but also create significant value for investors. This is achieved by leveraging the management team’s history of successful biotechnology company formation and operational leadership.
Longwood’s portfolio includes Alnara Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which was acquired by Eli Lilly in 2010 for $180 million cash upfront and a $200 million earn-out, and Verastem, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing novel drugs that selectively target cancer stem cells. Members of the Longwood team have founded and built several successful biotechnology companies including Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Alnara Pharmaceuticals, Inc. For more information, please visit www.longwoodfund.com.
CONTACT:
Weber Shandwick
Lacy Roosevelt, 617-279-3685
[email protected]
KEYWORDS: United States North America Massachusetts
INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: Health Biotechnology Professional Services Finance
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