Pivotal bioVenture Partners Appoints Accomplished Investor, Heather Preston, M.D., as Managing Partner

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 8, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Pivotal bioVenture Partners, today announced the appointment of the accomplished biotechnology venture capital executive, Heather Preston, M.D., as a Managing Partner. Preston joins Managing Partners Rob Hopfner, R.Ph., Ph.D., and Peter Bisgaard, formerly of Bay City Capital and Novo Ventures, respectively, to identify and manage the firm's investments in biopharmaceutical companies. The Pivotal team also includes Managing Partner Vincent Cheung, Chief Operating Officer of Nan Fung Group, Venture Partners Ash Khanna and Karoly Nikolich and Senior Associate, Jim Trenkle.

Dr. Preston is an experienced and successful investor with 30 years of healthcare experience. Before joining Pivotal, Dr. Preston spent 13 years with TPG Biotech where she was a Firm Partner and Managing Director. Prior to TPG, Dr. Preston spent two years investing with JP Morgan Partners and she was an Entrepreneur-in-residence with New Enterprise Associates. Dr. Preston also spent five years at McKinsey & Co. in New York where she was a leader of their pharmaceutical and medical products consulting practice. Dr. Preston trained in Gastroenterology and Hepatology at UCSF and in Internal Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital. She earned her medical degree from the University of Oxford and was a post-doctoral fellow in molecular biology at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. During her academic medical career, she was the recipient of multiple awards, including a Fulbright Scholarship and a Fulbright Cancer Research Scholarship. Dr. Preston currently serves on the board of directors of public companies, (Oxford BioMedica, Alder BioPharmaceuticals, Otonomy) private companies, (Unchained Labs, Azura Ophthalmics, Entasis Therapeutics) and observes on the board of Avalyn Pharmaceuticals.

"Pivotal has already built an excellent portfolio of promising pre-clinical and development-stage biopharmaceutical companies," said Dr. Preston. "That said, a significant amount of capital remains to be invested from the fund. I look forward to working with my new colleagues to build a leading biotechnology venture capital firm, which will work with exceptional management teams to bring promising new therapeutics to market for important unmet medical needs."

Dr. Hopfner added, "We aim to build on the unique advantages that our affiliation with the broader Nan Fung Life Sciences investment platform brings, including additional sources of investment capital, extended entrepreneurial and scientific networks, and access to the fast-growing Asian region. The addition of Dr. Preston with her strong track record and distinguished career in the industry is a further step towards our goal of becoming a leading life sciences venture capital firm."

About Pivotal bioVenture Partners
Pivotal bioVenture Partners, founded in 2017, is a $300 million life sciences venture capital fund, funded by the Nan Fung Group. We invest in privately-held North American and European companies focused on innovative therapeutic products and platforms to address major unmet medical needs. We invest at all stages in a company's evolution, from company creation through to mezzanine financings. We support development programs from preclinical through all the stages of clinical development and onto the market. We typically lead or co-lead our investments and aim to invest $20-25 million into each portfolio company. Our team brings diverse experience in venture capital, company building, and drug discovery and development, partnering with entrepreneurs to advance their businesses.

About Nan Fung Life Sciences (NFLS)
Nan Fung Life Sciences, part of Nan Fung Group, is a global investment platform focusing on life sciences. Leveraging on Nan Fung Group's strong capital base and long-term commitment to the area, the company aims to become the ideal partner for scientists, entrepreneurs, corporations and investors in the life science space. Through direct investments via Pivotal bioVenture Partners funds (both in US and China) and fund investments covering the full spectrum of the industry (including therapeutics, medical devices and diagnostics) and across different development stages, Nan Fung Life Sciences has a significant presence in both the US and Greater China.

About Nan Fung Group
Nan Fung Group, founded in 1954, is a conglomerate based in Hong Kong with global interests in real estate development and investment, life sciences and financial investments. Learn more at www.nanfung.com/.

Company Contact:
[email protected]

Media:
Robert E. Flamm, Ph.D. // Marcella Milder
Burns-McClellan Life Sciences Communications
[email protected] // [email protected]
212-213-0006

SOURCE Pivotal bioVenture Partners