CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Flagship
Ventures, a leading venture capital and venture creation firm
focused on healthcare and sustainability, today announced the
appointment of Stephane Bancel as a
Senior Partner. In this role, Mr. Bancel will provide strategic
counsel and support to portfolio companies.
In addition to working closely with companies in the Flagship
portfolio, Mr. Bancel also serves as President and Chief Executive
Officer of Moderna Therapeutics, a Flagship VentureLabs™ - founded
company. Moderna is pioneering messenger RNA therapeutics™,
an entirely new in vivo drug modality that produces human
proteins or antibodies inside the patient, within the patient's
cells. This allows the in vivo expression of virtually any
therapeutic protein for intracellular or systemic action. He is
also Executive Chairman of the board for BG Medicine, Inc. (NASDAQ:
BGMD), a Flagship portfolio company focused on the discovery,
development and commercialization of novel, biomarker-based
diagnostics to improve patient outcomes and contain healthcare
costs.
"Stephane brings with him a wealth of management experience and
expertise in the development and commercialization of medical
diagnostic tools and technologies as well as expertise in the
pharmaceuticals industry," said Noubar
Afeyan, Managing Partner and Chief Executive Officer of
Flagship Ventures. Under Mr. Bancel's leadership, Moderna has
entered into one of the largest preclinical biotech-pharma deals in
the industry's 35 year history with AstraZeneca. The recently
announced partnership agreement involves up to 40 options to drug
products and $420M in up front and
technology milestone payments. Dr. Afeyan added, "having worked
together with Stephane for over three years now at BG Medicine and
Moderna, I look forward to seeing his commercial mindset and
strategic insights applied more broadly to Flagship's investment
strategy as well as to the growth and success of our portfolio
companies."
Mr. Bancel said "What attracted me to Flagship Ventures was the
team's depth of experience and knowledge in the life sciences
industry, as well as the firm's unique philosophy and approach to
realizing entrepreneurial innovation." He continued, "I look
forward to building on Flagship's growing reputation as one of the
preeminent innovators in the life sciences ecosystem."
Prior to joining Flagship, Mr. Bancel served as Chief Executive
Officer of bioMerieux (NYSE Euronext: BIM.PA), a world leader in
the diagnostics industry. During his five years leading the
company, he accelerated the sales growth rate, enhanced its
position as a global leader in clinical microbiology and
re-accelerated its immunoassay franchise by focusing on high
medical value biomarkers. Under his leadership, the company's
market capitalization nearly doubled despite the broader economic
downturn.
Previously, Mr. Bancel was Managing Director of Eli Lilly in
Belgium and Executive Director of
Global Manufacturing Strategy and Supply Chain at Eli Lilly in
Indianapolis. He earned a Master
of Engineering from Ecole Centrale Paris, a Master of Science in
Chemical Engineering from the University of
Minnesota and an MBA from Harvard
Business School. In 2009, Mr. Bancel was elected a Young
Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He was elected Best CEO
for Investor Relations in France
in 2009 and was ranked #1 CEO in the Biotechnology sector according
to the 2011 Thomson Reuters Pan European EXTEL Study.
About Flagship Ventures
Realizing entrepreneurial
innovation is the mission of Flagship Ventures. The firm operates
through two synergistic units: VentureLabs™ which invents and
launches transformative companies, and Venture Capital, which
finances and develops innovative, early-stage companies. Founded in
2000, and based in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, Flagship Ventures manages over $900 million in capital. The Flagship team is
active in three principal business sectors: therapeutics, health
technologies and sustainability/clean technology. Past successful
Flagship portfolio companies include: Accuri Cytometers
(acquired by Becton, Dickinson and Company), Adnexus (acquired by
Bristol-Myers Squibb), Hypnion (acquired by Eli Lilly), AVEO
(NASDAQ: AVEO), BG Medicine (NASDAQ: BGMD), Tetraphase (NASDAQ:
TTPH), Receptos (NASDAQ: RCPT) and Morphotek (acquired by
Eisai). Additional notable portfolio companies include:
AeroDesigns, Affinnova, Agios, BIND Therapeutics, Joule Unlimited,
Quanterix, and Moderna Therapeutics. For more information,
please visit www.flagshipventures.com.
Contact:
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For Flagship
Ventures:
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Rachel
Brenner
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Ruder Finn
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212.715.1623
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flagship@ruderfinn.com
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SOURCE Flagship Ventures