SV Life Sciences Appoints Three New Venture Partners

BOSTON, SAN FRANCISCO and LONDON, June 2, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- SV Life Sciences ("SVLS"), a leading international life sciences venture capital firm, today announced the appointments of Dan Burgess, Dr. Ed Mascioli and Dr. Michael Mendelsohn as new venture partners.

All three new venture partners will join SVLS' biotechnology investment team, a highly experienced group investing in truly innovative medicines, platform technologies and diagnostics addressing significant, unmet medical needs. This team has an extensive and successful record of forming and growing companies from early stage seed and start-ups to late stage development including growth capital.  In addition, the team possesses deep operating expertise and strong industry relationships across a wide spectrum of the biotech sector.

Dan Burgess is an entrepreneur and business leader with whom SVLS has maintained a productive relationship for many years. Prior to joining SVLS, Mr. Burgess was Founder, President and CEO of Rempex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., an antibiotic company sold two years after its founding to The Medicines Company. Previously, Mr. Burgess was President and CEO of Mpex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a company that advanced an inhaled antibiotic for cystic fibrosis patients into Phase 3 clinical trials and was acquired by Aptalis, Inc. in 2011. Both Rempex and Mpex were SV Life Sciences' fund investments. In addition, Mr. Burgess has held senior executive positions at a number of other biotechnology companies and served for 10 years as a Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee of Santarus, Inc., a specialty biopharmaceutical company that was acquired by Salix, Inc. in 2014. Mr. Burgess received a B.A. in Economics from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Dr. Ed Mascioli is a highly experienced pharmaceutical and venture executive. Prior to joining SVLS, he served as the Chief Executive Officer of Affinium Pharmaceuticals, a former SVLS portfolio company developing a first-in-class anti-staphylococcal antibiotic. Ed led the successful sale of Affinium to Debiopharm International earlier this year. Prior to Affinium, Dr. Mascioli established and was Head of Pfizer's Rare, Orphan and Genetic Diseases Unit. While at Pfizer, he sourced and secured a competitive licensing deal with Zacharon, a private biotechnology firm. He has also held a number of successful leadership roles at Dapis Capital, Peptimmune, Inc. and MPM Capital. Dr. Mascioli holds a B.A. in Biology from Brandeis University, an M.D. from the University of Massachusetts Medical School and an M.S. in Nutritional Biochemistry and Metabolism from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr. Michael Mendelsohn is a physician-scientist, research leader and executive with broad experience in healthcare. He brings with him extensive experience as an industry and academic leader in research and development with a focus on molecular and cellular cardiovascular biology. Previously, he spent three and one-half years as Senior Vice President and Global Franchise Head, Cardiovascular Diseases at Merck Research Laboratories, with responsibility for cardiovascular research from drug discovery through late development. Prior to Merck, Dr. Mendelsohn served as the first Chief Scientific Officer and as founder and executive director of the Molecular Cardiology Research Institute at Tufts Medical Center and Tufts University School of Medicine. He previously spent five years on the cardiovascular faculty of the Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School.  As a physician-scientist, Mendelsohn studied signal transduction pathways regulating vascular and cardiac function and published over 150 papers. Dr. Mendelsohn received his B.A. in Chemistry and English from Amherst College and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School.

"We are extremely pleased to have such talented and experienced individuals join the SVLS team," said Michael Ross, Managing Partner in SVLS' biotechnology practice.  "These strategic hires position us to expand our sourcing and investment activities within the biotech sector and develop our portfolio dedicated to the space."

"These appointments truly represent a highly valuable addition to our capabilities and add an impressive breadth and depth to our team," said Kate Bingham, Managing Partner in SVLS' biotechnology practice. "We welcome Dan, Ed and Mike to the team and look forward to working closely with them going forward."

About SV Life Sciences
SV Life Sciences is a leading international life sciences venture capital firm. SVLS affiliated funds have been investing in life sciences companies since the early 1980s and the firm closed its first dedicated life sciences fund in 1994. SVLS' team of 25 professionals is organized according to experience and specialization into three practice areas: Biotechnology/Biopharmaceuticals, Medical Devices/Instrumentation, and Healthcare Services/Healthcare IT. These individuals' diverse and complementary skill sets and experiences enable SVLS to tailor an investment team for almost any life science business. Typically, SVLS recruits operating executives, called Venture Partners, who have distinguished careers in the life sciences fields and can bring extensive operating expertise to the SVLS portfolio of investments. They assist in sourcing, building and exiting investments successfully.  When possible, these individuals are promoted to serve as Partners and in some cases as Managing Partners within the Firm.  SVLS employs a close symbiosis between operating and financial professionals which has led to significant success over five investment funds. SVLS has offices in Boston, London and San Francisco. For more information, please visit the company's website at http://www.svlsa.com.

SOURCE SV Life Sciences