Newpath Partners Launches Fund II to Create Life Sciences Companies

BOSTON, Dec. 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Newpath Partners, a venture firm dedicated to life science investments, today announced the launch of Fund II. With its second fund in three years, Newpath Partners continues a mission of supporting scientific entrepreneurs at the earliest stages of company development. The firm's founding partner, Thomas J. Cahill M.D., Ph.D., is an accomplished scientist who has a unique appreciation for the challenges that scientific investigators face in today's environment. Fund II will empower carefully identified scientists to translate their discoveries into treatments for patients living with a broad range of diseases without adequate therapies or cures.

"Our team at Newpath Partners is guided by a simple ethos – do the right thing and good things will happen," said Thomas Cahill, M.D., Ph.D. "This principle has attracted the continued support of our investors and bold ideas from leading scientists. Many of these ideas are now advancing through portfolio companies to drive solutions for the world's greatest medical challenges."

The core beliefs that guide the Newpath team are exemplified by Dr. Cahill's own efforts against COVID-19. During the early surge of the pandemic, Dr. Cahill led the group "Scientists to Stop Covid 19," a non-partisan coalition of leading researchers that helped guide government policy to ensure adequate vaccine production and deployment. All members of the group remain free of financial conflicts of interest and donate their continued efforts solely for the betterment of society.

Much of the $350 million Fund II will be deployed in companies founded by current academic partners, including Ben Cravatt, Ph.D., The Scripps Research Institute; Keith Joung, M.D., Ph.D., Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School; David Liu, Ph.D., Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Harvard University; Siddhartha Mukherjee, M.D., DPhil, Columbia University Medical Center; Michael Rosbash, Ph.D., Brandeis University; Stuart Schreiber, Ph.D., Harvard University, Co-Founder of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; Ron Vale, Ph.D., HHMI Vice President & Executive Director, Janelia Research Campus; Jonathan Weissman, Ph.D., Whitehead Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Jim Wells, Ph.D., University of California San Francisco; and others. In addition, Newpath has helped build adept management teams at these companies, including Chroma Medicine, Catherine Stehman-Breen, M.D. and Vic Meyer, Ph.D.; Exo Therapeutics, Michael Bruce, Ph.D.; Kisbee Therapeutics, Matt Ottmer; Kojin Therapeutics, Luba Greenwood; Myeloid Therapeutics, Daniel Getts, Ph.D.; Prime Medicine, Keith Gottesdiener, M.D.

In 2018, Newpath Partners launched its first fund to build a portfolio of companies including Prime Medicine, Chroma Medicine, Kojin Therapeutics, Exo Therapeutics, Kisbee Therapeutics, and Myeloid Therapeutics. Since then, Newpath partnered with over 15 different scientific founders and hired hundreds of full-time employees.

"Newpath Partners is different in every sense," said Stuart Schreiber, Ph.D., Professor at Harvard University, Co-Founder of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Kojin Therapeutics and Kisbee Therapeutics. "Many scientists on the doorstep of breakthrough discoveries have found that academia is not the place for their ideas to flourish to have impact in the world. Newpath Partners champions scientists and is committed to translating discoveries into solutions. Whereas many other firms focus on incremental advancements, Newpath Partners identifies science that has the potential to change the status quo."

Newpath Partners aligns with investors who similarly share a vision for a new future of medicine. "It has been a privilege to collaborate with the team at Newpath Partners," said Stephen Pagliuca, Co-Chair of Bain Capital and Co-Owner of the Boston Celtics, an early investor in Newpath Partners. "Newpath consistently demonstrates an intricate understanding of the science and authentically leverages their expertise to cultivate companies."

"Newpath Partners takes a truly company-first approach, based on transparency and trust," said Catherine Stehman-Breen, M.D., Chief Executive Officer, Chroma Medicine. "With access to leading science, the Newpath team has created a supportive environment where scientific founders and management teams are eager and committed to challenge the current drug discovery paradigm to build the next generation of revolutionary life sciences companies."

Newpath's Fund I validated an unconventional investment thesis, with transformative biotechnology companies as the result. With Fund II, Newpath will continue to support scientists tackling the greatest needs in medicine.

About Newpath Partners

Established in 2018, Newpath Partners, LP is a life science venture firm dedicated to excellent science and to forming partnerships based on trust and a shared vision. To learn more, visit www.newpath.partners.

SOURCE Newpath Partners, LP