MONTRÉAL--(BUSINESS WIRE)--With its second fund recently closed, AmorChem is proud to announce the composition of its scientific advisory committee. AmorChem selected these highly qualified individuals because collectively, they offer an enviable array of diversified expertise and experience in lifesciences venture capital investment, drug discovery and pharmaceutical development. The committee, which will be advising AmorChem on its investments, is composed of:
Brian White-Guay, MD FRCPC (Practicing physician and consultant; formerly Professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Université de Montréal, Vice-President, Licensing, Vice-President Clinical Research Operations and Vice-President Regulatory Affairs at Merck Research Laboratories),
Francine Gervais, PhD (Drug development Consultant; formerly Senior Vice-President of Pharmaceutical Development with Painceptor, Vice-president Research and Development at Neurochem and Associate Professor, Department of Experimental Medicine, McGill University),
Cynthia Lavoie, PhD (Principal Consultant at Lakeview Bio; formerly General Partner at TVM Life Sciences Management, as well as Partner and Co-head of the Life Sciences Fund at VG Partners),
Deborah Slipetz, PhD (Executive Director, Pharmacology; formerly Executive Director, In vivo Pharmacology, Executive Director, Respiratory and Immunology, Project Team Leader at Merck Research Laboratories, as well as Senior Research Fellow at Merck Frosst)
and
Brian Underdown, PhD (Consultant; formerly Managing Partner at Lumira Capital, Managing Partner at MDS Capital Corp and University Medical Discovery inc., Assistant Vice-President & Director of Immunology at Pasteur-Mérieux-Connaught and Professor, Department of Pathology, McMaster University)
AmorChem’s objective is to build early-stage biotechnology companies from promising academic discoveries. The team, itself composed of experienced life science professionals, will work closely with its committee to choose the most appealing university projects and to craft them into attractive companies.
“It is with great pleasure that I am joining the AmorChem II Investment Committee. Having been part of the AmorChem I committee since its early days, it is a delight to continue to participate in the evolution of this innovative investment model”, says Brian White-Guay, the chairman of the committee. “My experience in both pharma and academia give me an appreciation for the work that is done at AmorChem to understand the potential of university research as well as the needs of the life science ecosystem. The team has built a model that can efficiently bridge the gap of translational research.”
“We are proud to have attracted such a great group of people to our Committee. Their expertise is complementary to our team and their dynamic contribution to the shaping of our investments provides very useful insight”, says Elizabeth Douville, Founder and Managing Partner. “Together with its new Committee, the AmorChem team is in the best possible position to build a promising portfolio of new opportunities and bring value to our Limited Partners.”
In addition to the composition of its Scientific Advisory Committee, AmorChem is also proud to announce the promotion of Maxime Pesant, CPA, CMA, CFA to the title of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Partner, and of Kevin McBride, MSc, PhD, to the title of Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) and Partner.
“With over 10 years of experience in accounting, financial management, modelling and fiscal strategy, Mr. Pesant played an instrumental role in establishing the financial strategy of AmorChem as well as its affiliate, NuChem Therapeutics inc.” says Inès Holzbaur, Founder and Managing Partner. “Based on his 25 years of experience in academic research and in the biotechnology industry, Dr. McBride has a critical impact in the implementation of the fund’s science strategy and opportunity shaping. We are very happy to recognise their role in the fund’s continuing success.”
ABOUT AMORCHEM L.P.
AmorChem (www.amorchem.com) is an early-stage, venture capital fund located in Montreal focused on creating promising life science companies from technologies originating primarily from Quebec-based universities and research centres. Launched in 2011, the AmorChem fund model combines access to financial resources with a virtual incubator structure that enables the rapid development and commercialization of its technologies. The first fund (41.2M$) has built a portfolio of 24 technologies and successfully transacted two pharma exits as well as spun-out five companies. The attractiveness of this seed fund model and the role it plays in the investment ecosystem were highlighted in September of 2017 with the launch of the AmorChem II fund of 44.2M$.
