Columbus Venture Partners opens an office in Boston with the addition of Dr. Robert Armstrong as a new partner of the biotechnology-focused management firm.
- El Dr. Armstrong es un ejecutivo con más de 30 años de experiencia en el sector farmacéutico. Recientemente, ha sido cofundador y director ejecutivo de Boston Pharmaceuticals, unidad de desarrollo de fármacos del fondo de capital riesgo estadounidense Gurnet Point Capital.
- Su incorporación a Columbus Venture Partners supone la apertura de una nueva sede en Boston, centro mundial de la biotecnología.
Columbus Venture Partners, a Spanish venture capital firm specializing in the biotechnology sector, announced today that Dr. Robert Armstrong has joined the firm as a new partner. Dr. Armstrong will bring his long experience in venture capital funds and R&D management in large pharmaceutical companies and a stronger presence in Boston, the world center of biotechnology, with the opening of a new Columbus office in this country.
Rob holds a BS in Chemistry from the University of California at San Diego, a PhD in Chemistry from California State University, and a postdoctoral fellowship at the NIH at Harvard. He has over 30 years of research and development experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Dr. Armstrong was most recently CEO, board member and co-founder of Boston Pharmaceuticals, the drug development unit of the US fund Gurnet Point Capital, the investment firm associated with the Bertarelli family that has more than $2 billion under management.
Previously, he created Amgen's drug R&D division in California and was Vice President of Medicinal Chemistry at Eli Lilly, where he also led the translational medicine group and the scientific area of the business development group.
Dr. Armstrong has been a member of the Investment Committee since Columbus' inception and will now join Columbus as a full time partner from Boston to develop the investment diversification strategy in the U.S. and strengthen Columbus' transatlantic commitment to the creation of new funds.
As explained by Damià Tormo, founding partner of Columbus, "since our inception in 2016, the US has been a key market for us at Columbus. Hasta la fecha y a través de nuestros tres fondos, hemos respaldado diferentes empresas en este país como Askbio (vendida a Bayer por $4B), Aura Biosciences (Nasdaq $AURA), Artax Biopharma, Aleta Therapeutics o Jurata. De una manera u otra, hemos estado muy involucrados en el ecosistema de Boston desde el comienzo de Columbus. With the creation of the new office and the addition of a person like Rob in Boston with extensive experience in the sector, we will be in a privileged position to build links and relationships with investors and entrepreneurs in that ecosystem."
"Since Columbus' inception, Rob has had key involvement in some of our businesses and on the Columbus investment committee. Nuestra relación se remonta a hace más de 15 años cuando trabajamos juntos en Eli Lilly en Indianápolis. Rob es un líder muy respetado del sector con una experiencia y conocimiento diferenciales a los que se une una enorme calidad humana. Rob will be a key player in the future of Columbus funds, and it is a real pleasure to be working together again," added Javier Garcia, founding partner of Columbus.
"I am very excited to join Columbus and work hand in hand with Damià, Javier and all the fantastic team that makes up Columbus. Llevo mucho tiempo siguiendo el trabajo realizado en los tres primeros fondos y creo que el modelo que han desarrollado, con un balance acertado entre desarrollo de fármacos y empresas bioindustriales, es una receta de éxito. Mi decisión de unirme al proyecto está basada en mi confianza en ese modelo y en las personas de Columbus. Adding my experience and relationships is a real pleasure, and together we will be able to develop great projects for future Columbus funds," says Dr. Armstrong about joining.
About Columbus Venture Partners:
Columbus Venture Partners has a fund portfolio of over €250 million under management, following a strategy of building companies from the ground up with a focus on investing in opportunities at all stages of (bio)pharmaceutical drug development and advanced biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies. The first two funds launched by Columbus in 2016 of €41 million and in 2019 of €74 million are in very advanced stage of divestment following an impressive performance track record with 9 successful divestments such as Viralgen Vector Core, Viralgen Commercial, and Askbio (acquired by Bayer), Curapath (acquired by Arcline), TAAV (acquired by Askbio), Aura (Nasdaq IPO), Sanifit (acquired by Vifor Pharma), Recovid (acquired by Vitro) or Algenex (acquired by Insud Pharma). While the third fund, which is nearing the end of its investment period, was launched in 2021 with €120 million. Columbus' professional team has 20 employees and combines strong scientific, medical and business knowledge with extensive experience in the field of corporate biotechnology.
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