MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sofinnova Investments, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical investment firm, announces the addition of Jonathan Leff, M.D. to the investment team as an Executive Partner.
With more than 25 years of clinical development experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Leff has focused on providing his strategic drug development expertise to aid companies from target identification to FDA approval and commercialization.
Dr. Leff most recently served as Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Ascendis Pharma, a biotechnology company developing medicines for rare endocrine disorders. Previously, Dr. Leff served as Executive Vice President, Research and Development at InterMune (acquired by Roche/Genentech in 2014) where he oversaw the development and US approval of Esbriet® (oral pirfenidone) for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Before InterMune, he was Chief Medical Officer at KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, and Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Halozyme Therapeutics. Additionally, Dr. Leff held various positions at Roche, Amgen, and Merck.
“Jon will be an exceptional asset to our team and portfolio companies with his deep drug development experience,” said Jim Healy, M.D., PhD., General Partner of Sofinnova. “I am pleased to have worked with Jon at three of our portfolio companies for over ten years. We are grateful to have him join our team at Sofinnova, his added expertise will bring value to our clinical-stage portfolio companies.”
“I’m excited to join the Sofinnova Investments team, which I have worked closely with during my time at Ascendis, InterMune, and KaloBios. I look forward to working with the team and applying my clinical development experience across Sofinnova’s portfolio,” said Dr. Leff.
About Sofinnova Investments
Since our founding in 1974, Sofinnova has been active in life science investing. We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical investment firm with approximately $2.3B in assets under management and committed capital. We invest in both private and public equity of therapeutics-focused companies. Our goal is to actively partner with entrepreneurs in both the U.S. and Europe, across all stages of company formation. From drug development and navigating the regulatory process to company building and IPO, we strive to be collaborative, meaningful board members, and excellent partners at every level. We seek to build world class companies that aspire to dramatically improve the current state of medical care today and ultimately, the lives of patients. For more information, please visit www.sofinnova.com.
