On the Fast Track to Treating Rare Liver Diseases
What if you could create a biotech startup focused on treating rare diseases, with clinical-stage drug candidates already in hand, and high odds of success in clinical trials? That was the compelling opportunity RiverVest helped build at Lumena Pharmaceuticals.
Venturing Into the Ear Frontier
Otonomy’s genesis has all the makings of a biopharmaceutical legend. Jay Lichter, Ph.D., managing director of Avalon Ventures, was driving down Prospect Street in La Jolla, Calif. one afternoon in January 2008 when he was struck not by a great entrepreneurial idea, but rather an unbearable dizziness.
Anatomy of a Biopharmaceutical Deal
It was the perspicacity of team members J. Gordon Foulkes and Niall O’Donnell in shepherding pharmaceuticals from gene discovery to clinical trials that attracted entrepreneur Nicholas Dean, Ph.D., to partnering with RiverVest. The three met through ‘BioBrits’, a networking community in San Diego.
VC Partner as Sounding Board
Experience, steady leadership, a willingness to drive change, and a deep understanding of the growing pains of a start-up — these are a few of the benefits CEO Joe Army cites when discussing the role of Salient’s Chairman of the Board Jay Schmelter, who is also a managing director of RiverVest.
RiverVest’s Founding Role Launches Device Company
When medical device inventor Lixiao Wang, Ph.D., called on Dennis Wahr, M.D., Managing Director at RiverVest, to help develop a drug-coated balloon catheter based on his patent-pending technology, he was looking for leadership in addition to funding.