Xconomy Xchange: Boston’s Life Science Disruptors

Every life sciences startup aims to shake up the industry, to go from the lab bench to Wall Street with the backing of all the big-name investors. Unfortunately, it takes much more than just a disruptive scientific idea to get there, which is why so many fledgling companies never make it to the IPO queue, let alone complete a successful stock market debut. What are the keys to success? What does it take to build a biotech startup from scratch, persevere, and convince the public markets to buy into it? And how can you do so even when the macroeconomic environment isn’t in your favor?

Join us for a unique event featuring stories from founders and investors of New England biotechs that used very different strategies to pull off some of the biggest recent life sciences IPOs.

Host Welcome

Martin Seidel is the Global Head of Strategic Alliances for the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research (NIBR). In this role, he leads a team that is responsible for creating collaborations with external partners that help advance NIBR’s research mission. Previously, Martin was Institute Director of NIBR’s Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF). (Connect with NIBR on Twitter @NovartisScience.)

SAGE Therapeutics Story

Jeffrey Jonas joined SAGE Therapeutics as CEO in 2013 and has more than 20 years of experience on both the scientific and business sides of the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, particularly in the CNS field. He has published more than 70 scientific papers and chapters, authored more than 100 books, scientific articles and abstracts, and has received numerous awards.

Kevin Starr is a co-founder of Third Rock Ventures and a proven leader with more than 25 years of experience building and operating leading biotechnology companies. Kevin focuses on the formation, development and business strategy of Third Rock’s portfolio companies, actively identifying and evaluating new investments. He has helped successfully raise $1.3 billion through the firm’s three funds.

Zafgen Story

Peter Barrett is a partner in the life sciences group and joined Atlas Venture in 2002. He spent 20 years in operating roles before becoming passionate about genomics and co-founding the first company to sequence the human genome, Celera Genomics.

Bruce Booth focuses on novel biopharmaceutical products, therapeutic platforms, and biomedical technologies as a partner in Atlas Venture’s life sciences group. He helped build the Pharma R&D practice at McKinsey after studying HIV as a Marshall Scholar.

Tom Hughes is CEO of Zafgen, a Boston-based biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the treatment of obesity. Tom has spent 27 years working on the discovery and development of novel therapeutics in the areas of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. He also serves on the board of directors of miRagen Therapeutics and is a scientific advisor to several Boston-area biotech companies.

Epizyme Story

Robert J. Gould has served as a director for Epizyme since March 2008 and the company’s Chief Executive Officer since March 2010. Previously, he served as Director of Novel Therapeutics at The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, a research institute. Prior to that, Gould was Vice President, Licensing and External Research, Merck Research Laboratories, at Merck & Co., Inc., where he held a variety of leadership positions during his 20-year tenure.

Carl Goldfischer has served as an Epizyme director since September 2009. He has served as an Investment Partner and Managing Director of Bay City Capital, as a member of the board of directors and executive committee, and has been with the firm since January 2000. Prior to joining Bay City Capital, Goldfischer was Chief Financial Officer of ImClone Systems, and since 2004, he has served on the board of directors of EnteroMedics.