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Innovative Start-up Funding Strategies in Today's Market

Tuesday, April 22
12:00 pm

A seemingly small, early step in the biotech value chain - that involves bridging the distance from academic breakthrough and tech transfer to early-stage investment - remains an enormous challenge.  So-called translational research begs for new funding and operational models.  Join a panel discussion by a successful CEO/founding CSO, seed venture investors and a leading academic organization on the latest investment models, company formation principles and the quest for capital to launch companies with a platform that is sustainable in the marketplace.

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Panelists:

Who's Who

MedImmune Ventures, a wholly owned venture capital fund within the AstraZeneca/MedImmune group of companies, fosters creativity and entrepreneurship through investment in cutting-edge science as a means to enable AstraZeneca and MedImmune to remain at the forefront of drug development. Created in 2002 to leverage MedImmune’s expertise and financial resources, it has broadened its charter to include all therapeutic areas of interest for the combined companies following the acquisition of MedImmune by AstraZeneca in June 2007.

Maggie was previously on assignment from AstraZeneca to the healthcare and life science venture investment team at Advent International for two years. Maggie has been in the bio-pharmaceutical industry for 23 years, where she has worked in pharmaceutical and biotech companies, holding business development, management and technical roles.  From joining AstraZeneca in 2001 to the end of 2005, Maggie was the Global Alliance Director for Global Sciences and Information, where she led an international group responsible for supporting evaluation, negotiation and management of global technology platform collaborations. Prior to 2001, Maggie held business development and scientific management positions at Hybridon, Inc.; Oncogene Science Inc.; and Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals.

Originally trained as a biophysical chemist, with a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Kansas, and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Indiana University, she trained in molecular and cellular biology as a post-doctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health.

A recognized leader in his field, Mr. Boyajian focuses on representing emerging growth and more established Fortune 500 companies in a broad array of transactions, including venture capital and other strategic matters. Viewed as a counselor to senior executives and principals of venture firms, he has particular expertise in cleantech, new media and nano technology.  Mr. Boyajian is typically called upon to render advice on matters relating to business strategy, finance, mergers and acquisitions, executive compensation arrangements and board governance along with intellectual property and litigation strategy. His representation of the interests of investment banking and venture capital firms in a broad array of transactions is a core focus.

Mr. Boyajian’s clientele reflects a cross-section of industries, including information technology, telecommunications, medical devices and life sciences. His deep network of relationships in the venture capital and investment banking communities has inured to the benefit of his clients over the years. He has been involved in transactions with premier venture capital and investment banking firms, including UBS, Wachovia, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Bear Stearns, Thomas Weisel Partners, Jefferies Broadview, Pequot, Rho, Draper Fisher, Sevin Rosen, Charles River, Canaan, Edison Venture Fund and Battelle Ventures.

Mr. Boyajian is noted as one of the leading Corporate/M&A lawyers by Chambers USA and recognized nationally in Who's Who in American Law.

Mr. Boyajian is a frequent speaker on the national stage and has spoken at industry conferences in a variety of locales, including the San Francisco Bay area, New York, Boston, and New Jersey.

Bob Creeden is Managing Director of the Center for Innovative Ventures (CIV) at Partners Healthcare, where he oversees the creation and launching of new ventures generated from Partners innovative research discoveries.

Mr. Creeden has spent more than twenty-five years commercializing new technologies and promoting emerging businesses, including fifteen years early stage venture capital investing experience and culminating in his 2004 appointment by Partners to establish the CIV. Previously, he was a general partner at Egan-Managed Capital, a $150 million dollar Boston-based venture fund, after having served as Vice President of the Massachusetts Technology Development Corporation, a 25-year-old early stage venture firm that funds technology-based companies in Massachusetts. Earlier in his career, he gained strategic operating expertise as a COO/CFO with start-up ventures and as a management consultant with Control Data Business Advisors. He holds an AB in Economics from Holy Cross College and an MBA from Suffolk University.
While serving in a leadership role on the boards of portfolio companies and developing strong relationships with co-investors from New England and across the country, Bob has reviewed more than 2000 business plans and invested in more than 40 companies. His portfolio has included companies developing leading-edge technologies in semiconductors, software, telecommunications, medical devices, manufacturing and advanced materials. He has extensive experience putting together syndicates of investors, corporations and third parties to fund technology companies through investment, partnership, joint development and research agreements.

Bob is a member of the Advisory Board for the WPI Collaborative for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, and a former Chair of the WPI Venture Forum, where he currently serves on the Board. He is also a Director of The Capital Network and a frequent speaker on entrepreneurship and early-stage investing.

Nina Kjellson focuses primarily on investments in the biopharmaceutical area. She is a board member of Alvine Pharmaceuticals, Nereus Pharmaceuticals, NovaCardia, Inc. and Trius Therapeutics. Additionally, she is an observer on the boards of AkaRx, Inc., Devax, Inc., Kanisa Pharmaceuticals and MacuSight, Inc. Kjellson also played a primary role in InterWest's investment in Aspreva Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ASPV).

Prior to joining InterWest, Kjellson was an investment manager at Bay City Capital, a life sciences merchant bank, and a research associate at Oracle Partners, a healthcare-focused hedge fund. Kjellson began her career conducting health policy and survey research with the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Kjellson holds a B.S. in human biology from Stanford University.

Ms. Daphne Zohar is the Founder and Managing Partner of PureTech Ventures , a Boston-based venture creation firm specializing in translating breakthrough research from top tier academic institutions into therapies that will impact human health.  PureTech reviews approximately 800 academic projects each year and selects the most interesting of those to form companies around. PureTech’s Partners include entrepreneurs and leaders from the top echelon of pharma, biotech and academia including Dr. Ronald Cape (founder, Cetus), Dr. Robert Langer (renowned MIT professor), Dr. Frank Douglas (former Chief Scientific Officer, Aventis), Dr. Bennett Shapiro (former EVP Worldwide Basic and External Research, Merck), and Dr. John Zabriskie (former CEO Pharmacia & Upjohn).  Zohar was named one of the world's top young innovators who will shape the future of technology by MIT's Technology Review magazine and one of the top "40 under 40" by the Boston Business Journal. A successful entrepreneur, Zohar created PureTech and assembled a leading team to help implement her vision for the firm. She sits on the boards of Solace Pharmaceuticals(and was previously Founding CEO)   Follica Inc. (where she is currently founding CEO), Enlight Biosciences , Endra, and Satori Pharmaceuticals.

Dr. Liu is the founder of Cambria Pharmaceuticals. He received his medical education at Stanford and postdoctoral clinical and research training in internal medicine, infectious diseases, and molecular biology at Beth Israel Hospital and Imperial College (London).  Dr. Liu subsequently served an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.  He has been a recipient of multiple grant awards from the NIH and is an author of over 50 scientific publications.  Prior to establishing Cambria Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Liu was Director of Scientific Strategy at Axys Pharmaceuticals (now Celera Genomics).

As President and CEO of Cambria, he has led the Company from inception through to technology development and revenue-generating stages to establish Cambria's current position as a leader in the discovery of novel therapeutic approaches to neurodegenerative diseases and other brain disorders.